9 Mar 2018
Jesus confirms what the scribe says: To love God and to your
love neighbor as yourself “is worth more than all burnt offerings and
sacrifices.” It’s worth more than the
actions associated with ritual.
Now, Jesus doesn’t say burnt offerings and sacrifices are
worthless. But he does put love ahead of those ritual actions.
And that’s because, as we know, a person can’t overlook love of God and
neighbor and then come to Mass and profess to be a person who follows Christ. For our ritual worship to be an act of
integrity, our life outside of Mass needs to be characterized through and
through by love.
And I’m preaching to the choir here this morning. But there are others in the world—fellow
Catholics, who forget the essential connection between love and ritual; who
treat others very badly and yet come to receive Communion, who share the Sign
of Peace, who put on a good show. But,
of course, God is not impressed.
We pray for those people...and for ourselves as well. May our worship of God who is Love impact our
lives outside of Mass. May we live with
Christian integrity, and then come to the altar of God to worship...with
integrity.
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