A scribe approaches Jesus and asks, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” All the centuries later, all Christian people know the answer. We know it well. The first commandment is to love – to love God with our entire being, all that we are, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The scribe agrees, essentially repeats Jesus’ answer and then adds a great insight. One that barely registers in our memory, if at all. The commandment to love is “worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” It is worth more than all we might hold dear about the practice of our religion. It is worth more than the language used, the elaborate churches we build, the outward piety we show, and the traditions of faith we repeat – sometimes without registering a lasting memory at all. Continue reading
In the Silence
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A popular line of anti-Catholic apologetics centers on our gospel reading. The argument is this: “you Catholics have lost your way. You rely on human traditions and ignore the commandments of God.” Their usual list of Catholic errors includes the veneration of Mary, her Immaculate Conception, and her bodily Assumption into Heaven. There is also transubstantiation, praying to saints, the confessional, penance, purgatory, and more. We might take great offense at their assertions – but it is a reminder that we should always be mindful about losing our way on the journey to God. We do in fact have our Traditions and our traditions. Lots of Catholics confuse the two. One can easily lose one’s way. 
Much of our religious consciousness is affected by art; we have inherited specific images that are more artistic than biblical. For example, we always imagine St. Paul being knocked from a horse on the Damascus Road. There is no mention of the horse in scripture. Is that a big deal? Perhaps not. But when Caravaggio placed Paul on the horse, a sign of royalty, he removed Paul from the midst of Corinth, the hard-scrabbled seaport town, from among the drunks, slackards, ne’er-do-wells, and people who sorely needed salvation. 
“But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20:31)
Back in the day, the 1980s to be exact, there was a year in which my job required me to spend a lot of time as a road warrior in support of our clients. There are approximately 250 working days in a year. I spent about 200 of them in a hotel. At first it was kinda’ fun. There was someone who cleaned your room every day, you got to eat out at the restaurant of your choice, you could drop your laundry off at the front desk and it would show up in your room at the end of the day. What’s not to like, right? By the second week, the thrill was gone and now all that was left was HBO. Remember this was 40 years ago, a hotel that had HBO had a serious leg up on the competition. But here’s the thing. HBO did not have a lot of choices that interested me. And now we are at week three. 
friarmusings 