Dearest Goddaughter (LTR-86) - The Shema Prayer

Dearest Goddaughter,

In today's Gospel, rather than choose a law, as the scribes would have him do, Jesus sums up the law in these two commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself." It is the Shema Prayer that the Jewish pray daily to remind themselves of God's love and faithful to them and for them to love Him and love one another out of love for Him.

Jesus is faithful even if we are unfaithful to him. However, we will all stand before the Lord in judgment and, as Saint Paul reminds us in his Second Letter to Timothy, ". . .if we deny him, he will deny us." Therefore, we must love God first and above all in our lives, even our own families. This can be hard to understand but, when we love God first and above all, the love and grace that flow from our relationship with God will order the other "loves" in our life in their proper perspective and order.

Let us ask Jesus to teach us his ways, which is always trustworthy:

If we have died with him

we shall also live with him;

if we persevere

we shall also reign with him.

But if we deny him

he will deny us.

If we are unfaithful

he remains faithful,

for he cannot deny himself.

Love,

Bỏ Phúc

P.S. These are the readings for the day: 2 Tm 2:8-15 and Mk 12:28-34 (see below)

. . .

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,

"Which is the first of all the commandments?"

Jesus replied, "The first is this:

Hear, O Israel!

The Lord our God is Lord alone!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

The second is this:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these."

The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.

You are right in saying,

He is One and there is no other than he.

And to love him with all your heart,

with all your understanding,

with all your strength,

and to love your neighbor as yourself

is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,

he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God."

And no one dared to ask him any more questions.