The Daily Gospel

Sunday, 04 November 2012
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan († 1584) - Memorial,  St. Felix of Valois, Hermit and co-founder of the Trinitarians (1127-1212)



Commentary of the day
Saint Bernard : "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart"

Reading

Mk 12:28b-34.


One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, 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.


Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB



Commentary of the day

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church
Sermons on the Song of Songs, no.83 (trans. ©Classics of Western Spirituality)

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

I have read that God is love (1Jn 4,16), but not that he is honor. It is
not that God does not want honor, for he says, "If I am a Father, where is
my honor?" (Mal 1,6). Here he speaks as a Father. But if he shows himself
to be a Bridegroom, I think he will speak differently and say, "If I am a
Bridegroom, where is my love?" For he spoke differently before, "If I am
the Lord where is my fear?" (ibid.) God, then, demands to be feared as
Lord, honored as Father, and loved as Bridegroom. Which of these is first?
Which is supreme? Surely love. Without love, fear is a source of pain, and
honor is thankless. Fear is servile until it is set free by love. And the
honor which does not proceed from love is not honor but adulation. And,
indeed, honor and glory belong to God alone, but God will accept neither if
they are not sweetened with the honey of love. Love is enough on its own;
it pleases by itself and on its own account. It is its own merit and its
own reward. Love needs no cause, no fruit besides itself; its enjoyment is
its use. I love because I love; I love that I may love... In love alone, of
all the movements of the soul and the senses and affections, can the
creature respond to its Creator, if not as equal to equal, at least as like
to like (cf Gn 1,26).