'Living Lent': Friday of the Third Week of Lent - Day 24

PRAY:
"If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, I would feed them with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them." (Psalm 81:17)

READING: Mark 12:28-34

28 One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, 'Which is the first of all the commandments?'

29 Jesus replied, 'This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord,

30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

31 The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.'

32 The scribe said to him, 'Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no other.

33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.'

34 Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' And after that no one dared to question him any more.

MEDITATION:
The greatest commandments are to love God and to love one another. Our obedience is seen by how we treat others around us, especially those who are most different from us. Those who have done us wrong, those who are unfamiliar, these are the people we are called to love.

LET US PRAY:
Lord, open my eyes to the opportunities to love others. Give me the strength and the courage to love others, even when in my mind, they do not deserve it. For you love us, even when we are unworthy. May I love others the way you love me.

ACTION:
I will demonstrate my love for others by performing an act of love. Perhaps it will be my spouse, or a loved one whom I might neglect, or a stranger who has not seen kindness for a long time?