SPEAKER_00: One of the great tragedies of modern life is that we have become experts in many things and beginners in things that matter most.
SPEAKER_00: We know how to operate smartphones, navigate airports, manage investments, and use artificial intelligence.
SPEAKER_00: We can access almost any information in the world within seconds.
SPEAKER_00: But ask the average person what's the purpose of your life?
SPEAKER_00: And many will struggle to answer that.
SPEAKER_00: You can ask someone, what matters most to you?
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly the room becomes quiet.
SPEAKER_00: That is what makes today's gospel so refreshing.
SPEAKER_00: A scribe approaches Jesus and asks a question that every human being should be able at some point to answer.
SPEAKER_00: Which of the first of all the commandments?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what's the most important?
SPEAKER_00: What is life really all about?
SPEAKER_00: If I forget everything else, what must I remember?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answers with a breathtaking simplicity.
SPEAKER_00: Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: Everything else flows from that.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus does not say.
SPEAKER_00: He does not begin with rules, he does not begin with obligations, he does not begin with rituals, he begins with love.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Christianity is not first about what we do for God, it is first about our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: The saints knew this.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest saints were not necessarily the most talented, the most educated, the most beautiful, or the most successful.
SPEAKER_00: They were the people who learned how to love.
SPEAKER_00: Saint Therese of Lisieux spent most of her life hidden in a convent.
SPEAKER_00: Saint John Bieni struggled academically.
SPEAKER_00: Saint Theresa of Calcutta spent decades feeling spiritually empty.
SPEAKER_00: And yet they changed the world because they loved God completely.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the scribe's response is so remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: He tells Jesus that loving God and loving neighbor are worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he understands something many religious people miss.
SPEAKER_00: Religion without love becomes performance.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer without love becomes routine, a burden.
SPEAKER_00: Worship without love becomes empty.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees often knew the rules but missed the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: The scribes, this scribe is beginning to see the heart of it all.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus tells him, You are not far from the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: What an interesting phrase.
SPEAKER_00: Not far.
SPEAKER_00: Close, but not yet inside.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because knowing the answer and living the answer are two different things.
SPEAKER_00: The scribe understood the truth intellectually.
SPEAKER_00: Now he had to surrender to it personally.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, that may be where many of us find ourselves today.
SPEAKER_00: Most Catholics know they should love God.
SPEAKER_00: They know they should love their neighbor, but the challenge is not understanding it, the challenge is actually doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Loving God when life is going well is one thing.
SPEAKER_00: Loving God when prayers seem unanswered is another.
SPEAKER_00: Loving our neighbor when they are kind and wonderful and easy.
SPEAKER_00: Loving our neighbor when they're when they wound us is difficult.
SPEAKER_00: Loving our neighbor when they agree with us is natural.
SPEAKER_00: Loving our neighbor when they frustrate us and disappoint us, that's hard.
SPEAKER_00: Then we hear Saint Paul in the first reading.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is writing from prison, he's in chains, and yet listen to his confidence.
SPEAKER_00: The word of God is not chained.
SPEAKER_00: What a powerful statement.
SPEAKER_00: His body's imprisoned, his circumstances are difficult, his future is uncertain, but the gospel remains free.
SPEAKER_00: And then Saint Paul gives us one of the most beautiful lines.
SPEAKER_00: If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful.
SPEAKER_00: That does not mean our choices do not matter, they do.
SPEAKER_00: Paul has already warned that if we deny Christ, we place ourselves outside of his friendship.
SPEAKER_00: But Saint Paul's point is that God's faithfulness is greater than our weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: God does not wake up one morning and decide to stop loving us.
SPEAKER_00: God does not abandon us when we stumble.
SPEAKER_00: God remains faithful even when we struggle.
SPEAKER_00: That's the foundation of our Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: Not our perfection, his faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that is the connection between the readings today.
SPEAKER_00: The reason we can love God with all of our heart is because we because he first loved us with all of his whole heart.
SPEAKER_00: The reason we can persevere is because he remains faithful.
SPEAKER_00: The reason we love difficult people is because he continues to love people difficult people like us.
SPEAKER_00: So perhaps today we should ask ourselves a simple question.
SPEAKER_00: Someone watched my life for a week, what would they conclude I love most?
SPEAKER_00: My career, my comfort, my things, my reputation, my possessions, or God?
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of our lives, Jesus will not ask how much busy we were.
SPEAKER_00: He will not ask how much money we accumulated.
SPEAKER_00: He will not ask how many emails were answered.
SPEAKER_00: He will ask whether we learned the lesson at the center of today's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Do we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength?
SPEAKER_00: And did we love our neighbor as ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: Everything else is secondary.
SPEAKER_00: Everything passes away and fades.
SPEAKER_00: But love that endures forever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.