Greetings (see Second Reading) Jesus here among us offered himself for us. He is living forever to intercede for all of us who come to him. May his grace and peace be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant Love:
Summit and Summary of all Commandments.
There is no greater love than that which disposes someone to
give up one’s life for others. Jesus, the person who tells us this, proved by
his own life and death that he meant what he said. He insists that love of God
and love of people are one and inseparable. It is perhaps easy to love an
unseen God but it is often very difficult for us to love people whose weakness
we see, people who are cranky and rough and unreliable. But if we cannot love
these people, we really do not love God. Jesus, who is God’s love alive, can
give us his own endless, reliable love.
Share God’s Love
People who love one another deeply are disposed to sacrifice
themselves for one another. Yet, what counts more than the sacrifice itself, is
their mutual love; that is the root. Love is so great because, more than
anything else, it is a gift from God who loved us first. If we become fully
aware of this it will be easy to love people and to be at peace and in love
with ourselves, for God loves us in all our frailty and fickleness and he keeps
accepting us. Why, then, should we not accept also those around us? We ask the
Lord in this Eucharist to let us feel his love and to enable us share it.
Penitential Act
Whose love has not failed at times? Let us ask the Lord and
those we have hurt to forgive us in the generosity of their heart. (pause)
Lord Jesus, let us share in your love that was attentive to
all people and cured their ills: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have
mercy.
Jesus Christ, let us share in your love that embraced even
sinners and outcasts: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, let us share in your love that went all the way,
even accepting death to save the unjust, the ungrateful, the hard-hearted: Lord,
have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us all our sins. Make us
capable of a love that excludes no one and lead us to everlasting life. R/
Amen.
Opening Prayer Let us pray to God, the source of all
love to refresh our love (pause)
Lord our God, loving Father, all true love comes from you
and leads to you. You have committed yourself to us in a covenant of lasting
love in the person of Jesus Christ. Help us to respond to your love with the
whole of our being and to live your commandments not as laws forced on us from
outside but as opportunities to love you for yourself and in people, our
brothers and sisters. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading:
Love the Lord with All Your Heart God said as early as in
the Old Testament: Listen, people of the covenant: The one Lord God loves you.
Love God with all your heart.
Second Reading:
Christ, the Definitive High Priest Christ is the definitive
mediator and high priest, for he is the eternal Son of God, and he has
sacrificed himself totally for us. He alone can bring real communion with God.
Gospel:
No Greater Than These Two Listen, people of the new
covenant: Love the Lord God with all that is in you; remember that love
includes everyone.
Intercessions
Love can hardly be commanded, yet it ought to be the heart
of all we do. Let us pray to the Father of all love for the capacity to love
him and our neighbour far and near. Let us say:
R/ Lord, make us instruments of your love.
– That the Church for which Christ died may grow
into a universal community of love which makes God’s unconditional love visible
to all people, let us pray:
R/ Lord, make us instruments of your love.
– That Christians everywhere may not be people of
legalisms and outward observances but people with a heart, who do what they
have to do and more because they are God’s children; let us pray: R/ Lord,
make us instruments of your love.
– That the nations of the world may learn to
respect and help one another and to build peace and progress not at the expense
of one another but based on justice and equitable sharing; let us pray: R/ Lord,
make us instruments of your love.
– That we may be reliable friends to those
suffering in any form; that we may lighten their burdens and help them to keep
trusting in God and people, let us pray: R/ Lord, make us
instruments of your love.
– That
our anaemic and dried-up love may become rich and spontaneous, like a fresh
breath of life and joy brightening the lives of those around us and a wordless
song of praise to God, let us pray: R/ Lord, make us instruments of
your love.
Loving God, we claim to belong to you and to your Son. Help
us through your Spirit of love to give to your love a human shape, that we may
make people happy and be your happy people in Christ Jesus our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father, in these offerings of bread and wine allow
us to join your Son Jesus in his perfect sacrifice of love. Accept our heart,
our life, our thoughts and words and Intercessions, our burdens and our joys as
a grateful way to respond to your love and to bring life to our brothers and
sisters. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
One of heart and voice, let us thank God for the love shown
in Christ, which makes us capable of love. Jesus’ obedience too has made us
capable of giving to God a response of love.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
By the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts, we
pray to our Father in heaven: R/ Our Father…
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil of selfishness and
calculation and open us to your love. Keep us free from the fear of committing
ourselves in love to anyone who needs us, and let our love for those around us be
the test of the quality of our love for you. Help us to be one in heart and
soul and to be a community of service, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming
of our Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom…
Invitation to Communion
This is the Lamb of God who gave up his life for us and who
said: Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another as I
have loved you. Happy are we to be invited to share Jesus’ meal of love. R/
Lord, I am not worthy…
Prayer after Communion
Our God and Father, we have learned from your Son not merely
to love others as we love ourselves but if necessary more than ourselves. By
the strength of this Eucharist, dispose us to rejoice with the happy and to
mourn with the sad, to cultivate the best in ourselves and to offer it to
others as a free gift. Help us never to take Christ without people, never
people without Christ, who is our Lord for ever.
R/ Amen.
Blessing
Did we really need the reminder that love is the heart of
our faith, as it is the heart of all human life? Yes, if we are aware that
often, we forget that love. Perhaps the love of God is easier to keep in a way,
because God often seems far away. But our neighbor is there, with all his
irritating blemishes and habits. Let us not forget that he or she is Christ
meeting us on the road of life. May God fill us with his love and bless us: The
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go with one another the way of love of the
Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Commentary Listen to him!
Today's text presents Jesus in the temple, where a scribe
asked him the theological question: "What is the most important
commandment?" The scribes had discovered 613 commandments of the Law and
the question was: Of these 613, which one is the most important? Many teachers
maintained that the most important of the commandments was the observance of
the Sabbath because God himself observed this, as he rested on the seventh day
after six days of creation. But Jesus had disagreements on that. The gospel
readings of last week were all about Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees
regarding the Law of the Sabbath. Others believed that “not to have other gods
than the only God of Israel” was the most important. Contrary to what the
scribe expected, Jesus cites the creed of Israel which is given in the Book of
Deuteronomy, Chapter 6: “Hear, O Israel!” Jesus gives a new way of
understanding our relationship with God, where the first command of the Lord is
“Hear, O Israel” – ie., “Listen O chosen people of God”. We are the chosen
people of God, and we must listen to the Word of God and allow it to transform
us. Hear O Israel, Adonai is our one God ... if you listen to him, you will
keep his word.” “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your life, with all your strength and with all your mind.” Our entire life
project has no other objective than to fulfil the mission entrusted to us on
the earth – to do the projects of God. We do not do this because of any
compulsion but rather out of love of God, who has designed our life. The
Pharisees had asked for the most important commandment, but Jesus gives us two
commandments: “To Listen” and “to love”. Then he teaches us that the love of
God is not possible without the love of our neighbour. According to Luke’s
version of this passage, there is only one commandment: 'Love God and love your
neighbour as yourself'. In the Gospel of John, in chapter 15, Jesus says:
"This is my only commandment: “love one another." In the letter to
the Romans, Paul says: 'All the commandments ... do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, they are summarized in these words: you will love your
neighbour as yourself.' How are we to live by this commandment of Jesus? First,
Listen to him! To listen to the voice of the Lord, we must resolve to travel
with him on the road from Galilee to Jerusalem. Reading Mark's Gospel is
equivalent to making this journey. It may be that having reached the last page,
one does not yet dare to offer one's life with Jesus. There is no need to be
discouraged because of this; one must resume the journey with him, starting
again from Galilee.
