Editor’s note: Diocesan Administrator Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald gave the following homily at the 11 a.m. Mass Nov. 5, 2006, in the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Dear Friends, Tuesday is election day and hopefully, registered voters will go to the polls to cast their ballots, a marvelous privilege we enjoy in this country. Like always, it seems like it has been a long campaign that most people will be glad to see over. During these past months people have often been asked what they thought were the most important issues under discussion. Some answered the war in Iraq, national security, terrorism, dishonesty in government. Others the economy, health care, social security, abortion, or the growing number of people (living) below the poverty level. The Gospel presents a similar situation this morning. A scribe – expert in Jewish religious law, asks Jesus: "Which is the first of the commandments?" That was a common question among Jewish religious leaders at the time. Moses had given the people 613 separate laws and opinion was divided as to which ones were more important than the others. As we heard in the reading from Deuteronomy, the Jewish people understood that God’s word leads to life and that the law was given as a gift to help them understand what God expected of them. The gift of life from God would be so filled with life-sustaining blessings, that Moses could describe the promised land as one flowing with milk and honey. So the Jewish people were anxious to sum up the spirit of those many Mosaic law into a few commandments they could hold onto. Thus, the scribe in the Gospel naturally asks Jesus, which is the first and most important of the laws? Jesus answers by combining the two laws and relating them to each other. He begins with the first: "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength." The people knew that when Moses had given this law to them he stressed how essential the law was for their lives. Moses had said: "Take to heart these words – drill them into your children – speak of them at home and abroad – whether you are busy or at rest – bind them to your waist – and to your forehead – write them on the door posts of your houses..." Should not all parents instruct their children, teachers their students, in a similar manner, stressing how rich life is when love of God takes first place and how empty life can be when the love of God is shallow or missing? Then Jesus attaches the second commandment to the first: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself... There is no other commandment greater than these." Both commands are about total love, and Jesus instructs the scribe about that love. • Love God with all your heart; we are to make God our number one priority and to be sure that we aren’t squandering our love on foolish pursuits or empty promises. The love of God is different from the selfishness that often parades as love in the world. The Gospel challenges us to ask what the quality of our live is. Does it impact how we spend our time and money? Does loving with all of our heart impact how we treat family, friends, and coworkers? How much do we really care about our community and our world? • Love God with all your soul; realize we are made in God’s image and likeness, and so is everyone else, regardless of how we might judge them; we are made for eternal life so we could live with a vision beyond that of this world. • Love God with all your mind; seek truth, for God is all-knowing; how concerned are we about growing in the knowledge of God so that we can respond more faithfully to God’s holy will? • Love God with all your strength; with all of your energy; God gave us the gift of life, so we should hold nothing back in living our lives for God. That requires divine grace. So we celebrate the Holy Eucharist; that is why we were given the sacraments, prayer, and sacred Scripture. They are source of our strength. When this love of God is authentic, then it flows over into the love of neighbor and the love for self. That isn’t so easy either. Dostoesvsky noted that "love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing, compared to love in dreams." Jesus calls us to that love in action throughout the New Testament: we have the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, the wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan. We have Gospel values guiding us in our relationship with each other, directives such as honesty, respect, faithfulness, care of human life and a spirit of generosity. These are the values we need to embrace and live with in the family, in the work place, in the community, and as we carry out our civic responsibilities. Wouldn’t it be great if all of our elected officials, if those running for office, in fact, if each one of us could say we truly live the two great commandments? These are mirrors for us as we examine our own hearts. These two great commandments can serve as norms for us as we cast our votes in elections. We should vote for individuals who will reflect and pursue the values that we hold dear. We should vote for measures that will promote the common good of the community. Jesus finds the scribe of the Gospel an open and willing disciple. Thus, he praises him with words the young man has been longing to hear: "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
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