20TH FRIDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Matthew 22:34-40) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- Aug 23
- 3 min read
FIRST READING - Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
"Naomi came back with her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who accompanied her back in Bethlehem."
A reading from the Book of Ruth
1 Once back in the time of the judges[a] there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah left home with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. 3 Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two boys[a] nor her husband.
6 She and her daughters-in-law then prepared to go back from the plateau of Moab because word had reached her there that the Lord had seen to his people’s needs[b] and given them food. 14 Again they wept aloud; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “See now,” she said, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!” 16 [a]But Ruth said, “Do not press me to go back and abandon you!
Wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge.Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. 22 Thus it was that Naomi came back with her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Mt 22:34-40
“You shall love the Lord, your God, you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
✠From the Gospel according to Matthew
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them [a scholar of the law][a] tested him by asking, 36 “Teacher,[b] which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him,[c] “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it:[d] You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 [e]The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
20TH FRIDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Matthew 22:34-40)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear People of God,
The Word of God today, God teaches all humanity to know about His law. The law that God gives to mankind must be placed above all other laws. This is the Law of Love—the law of love for God and the law of love for others. These two laws must always go hand in hand. All other laws are given only to help people attain this "Law of Love."
God wants people to live and keep the law that God gives, which is to love God above all things, with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their minds, and to love others as themselves.
God loves humanity, and so He makes it known that in the Kingdom of Heaven, souls honor and worship God alone and love one another with all their hearts. Therefore, He invites everyone to live by and practice His law of love, which is to “Love God above all things, and love others as yourself."
Living in this way will lead us to eternal life, where we will never be separated from God. These are the two most important laws that Jesus brought to humanity when He came to earth. He fulfilled and perfected the old law, making it complete.
These two commandments must be practiced together. If we love God above all things but do not love our neighbor, then that is not pleasing to God, because God is present in the soul of every human being. Therefore, whoever says that they love God must also love their neighbor. This is God's invitation to all humanity is to live and practice these two important commandments, and we will please God and be rewarded with the Kingdom of Heaven in the life to come.
Thanks be to God. Amen
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