Deuteronomy 6:2-6
1. Is there any contradiction between the Ten Commandments and the commandment to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself?
2. On a global scale what are some issues we need to think about when we consider the commandment, “Love your Neighbor”? Climate? Racism? Immigration? Incarceration? Starvation?
Second Reading
Hebrews 7:23-28
1. Explain why Jesus’ sacrifice takes place now and always, for instance in the Eucharist, as well as throughout history. Compare the love Jesus has for you with the love he had for his disciples.
2. How do you feel about someone who “lives forever to make
intercession for” you?
Gospel
Mark 12:28b-34
1. What does Pope Francis suggest we do to avoid being a community of “service stations” for the poor with little friendship?
Our God is unmitigated giving; he is unlimited forgiveness; he is a relationship that promotes and fosters.
Mark the Evangelist does not bother to specify who the neighbor is, because a neighbor is a person whom I meet on the journey. … It is about having eyes to see and a heart to want what is good for him or her. If we practice seeing with Jesus’ gaze, we will always be listening and be close to those in need. …
Today’s Gospel passage invites us all to be projected not only toward the needs of our poorest brothers and sisters, but above all to be attentive to their need for fraternal closeness, for a meaning to life, and for tenderness. This challenges our Christian communities: it means avoiding the risk of being communities that have many initiatives but few relationships; the risk of being community ‘service stations’ but with little company, in the full and Christian sense of this term.
Angelus, Pope Francis
Nov. 4, 2018
2. Why did Jesus add the words, “And love your neighbor as yourself” to the commandment to love God with our whole heart? Was it found throughout the Hebrew culture? How do we show love for God? Are most of the Ten Commandments about loving our neighbor?
