What's Your Mission?

The Catholic Liturgy for the 8^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, March 3, 2019. Gospel: Luke 6:39-45. Theme: What’s Your Mission?

Every significant world religion has a particular passage taken from their holy books which expresses who they are as a people; a kind of “mission statement” as to how they live out the faith they profess with their lips.  And each of them also have a special time of year particularly devoted to prayer and repentance, renewing their commitment to God as they understand Him.

The mission statement of Judaism, for example, is expressed in the Shema, a prayer taken from the Old Testament Book of the Law, which starts out “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone…” and then it goes on to remind the Jews of their obligations to God. The Shema expresses Judaism’s focus on obedient fulfillment of the Law. And every year - from Rosh Shanna to Yom Kippur - the Jewish people observe 10 days reflecting on how they have lived out their relationship with God and others.

Islam’s mission statement is called the Shahada, which is a very short profession of faith found in the Koran: “There is only one God and only one prophet of God, Mohammed.” This is recited 5 times a day while bending the body to the ground in a posture of worship and surrender. The Shahada expresses the Muslim’s submission to God as the Almighty. Their special time of year is the month-long Fast of Ramadan, which calls the Muslim people to submit both their bodies and souls to purification.

What about Christianity? If a Jewish or Muslim person asked, would you know what our mission statement is? It is taken directly from the Gospel and every Christian should know it by heart. We call it The Great Commandment because that’s what Jesus called it: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

The Great Commandment expresses the very heart of Christianity and therefore, it should be enshrined in the heart of every Christian.  This is what the four short sayings of Jesus in today’s Gospel are meant to tell us. They call us to an honest self-evaluation of how we are living out our love for God in our relationship with others. This collection of the Lord’s sayings summons us to have good spiritual vision, to look into our own hearts and lives to see what needs to change, what needs to be reformed and purified.

And of course, this is why the Church gives us our special time of year for spiritual renewal and purification:  the holy Season of Lent which will begin this Wednesday.  It is like having an annual spiritual check-up so that we can honestly evaluate how we are living the Great Commandment.  It’s a time to refocus on our relationship with God, to look to the example of Jesus our beloved Brother and Lord, and to submit ourselves in mind, body and soul to the purifying fire of love that is the Holy Spirit.

The short but direct-to-the-heart teachings of Jesus that we heard this morning are purposely proclaimed on this Sunday before Ash Wednesday so that we have something to guide us as we reflect on how we have been living the Great Commandment of Love:

Jesus says the bind cannot lead the blind…how is our spiritual eyesight? Are we trying to see life from God’s point of view by reading the Scriptures and pondering them in our hearts?

Jesus says to remove the beam from our own eye …do we know what constitutes that beam in our eye? Are we aware of what behavior or attitude is blocking us from loving God with all that we are and from loving our neighbor as ourselves?

Jesus says that what we cherish in our hearts is what really guides our decisions and actions in life…Let’s ask ourselves with gut-honesty: do we hold the Great Commandment as the treasure of our hearts? Is it our motivation and goal?

One way to observe Lent this year, in a mindful way that that can really make a difference in your life, is to try this simple but powerful spiritual practice: Memorize the Great Commandment and recite it twice a day throughout Lent, so as to enshrine it in your heart. Recite it first thing in the morning to remind you to make choices consistent with being an instrument of Christ’s Love during the day. Then repeat it at night as a kind of examination of conscience, as a way to review your day to see where it was lived it well and where improvement is needed by God’s grace.

By doing this we can hopefully make love more real and effective in our everyday lives and put into practice these words from St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “It is easy to love the people who are far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve the hunger of a stranger, than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved among our own family. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”