God's Priority is Love

Dali's Sacrament of the Last Supper

How many are tired of mid-term politicking? Here’s how politicians in Colonial America sought feedback from their constituencies. They sent their assistants to local taverns, to “go sip some ale and listen to conversations.” Assistants were dispatched to different places. “You go sip here” and “I'll go sip there.”

“Go sip” morphed into the word “gossip.” Maybe that’s what polls are.  We'll know Wednesday!

Sometimes we ask ourselves: what’s the one thing I want to be known for?  Such questions may reveal what’s really important to us.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus was asked to prioritize the commandments. Without hesitating, he reveals what is most important to God by quoting the She’ma, a daily prayer still recited today by Jews:

“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.”
Then Jesus adds a quote from the holiness code in Leviticus:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The scribe notes his response to Jesus: You are right…to love God and to love your neighbor is worth “more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Jesus Christ, our high priest, through his death and resurrection opened up to all humankind eternal life with God. Yes, in the mystery of death is eternal life. God called you and me for a specific purpose in this earthly life and an unimaginable future in heaven. Christ anticipates this future.

I would like to suggest how we might begin to experience this by becoming more aware of the presence of God as we go about our daily routine. One way to make the best of the present is to practice the presence of God. The great masters of Christian spirituality say this practice is an art.

Yes, we can experience the presence of the divine all around us in nature and in people. But we encounter the living Christ in a privileged way in the liturgy. The Risen Christ is present  as we gather together in his name. He dwells in each of us through our life of discipleship with him. We connect with one another as sons and daughters of God our Father in a way that expresses the unity of the mystical body of Christ, our global faith community.

The living Christ invites us, through the presider, to sing and pray in worship of the Father. We also encounter the living Christ in the word: listening with open ears and open hearts because Christ has a word for each of us, a word that hits home.

Then Christ reveals his presence to us in the reality of his body and blood. This is an intensely personal and communal moment as we are deeply united with Christ and with all who share this sacred meal in this community and in our world-wide faith community. Communion links us through the sacramental body of Christ to his mystical body.

May God grace us abundantly so that we can practice the art of the presence
of God as we go about our daily routine of working and traveling and shopping and exercising and eating with family and friends.  And then we will make the best of the present moment.