Date: June 4, 2020 ()

Bible Text: |

Series:

“Such is my Gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.” What we saw for the previous two months was truly a testimony to the truth of Paul’s preaching today. When everyone was in hiding and as it were locked down to their respective homes, God’s word of hope never stopped spreading and giving comfort to our weary hearts. God’s word goes wherever it breathes. If the virus knows no borders and peoples; and then harms, the Word of God too knows no lock downs and chains; and then heals - it heals us from unnecessary and paralyzing fear and opens our minds to the hope of eternal realities.

Our gospel reading today recalls the two great commandments which serve us the fundamental principle of all disciplines, laws, and good actions. Jesus wisely said it only in two perfect terms: Love God above all things and Love your neighbor as yourself. And we come to realize that this, His brief discourse on love could be bigger and more all-encompassing than all the hundreds of details of the Jewish law.

God’s word is indeed never chained. It can’t be confined by the laws of Moses and regulations of the temple because the truth is: there are a thousand different ways to do good actions in the spirit of Love.

It is so sad to know Catholics are silently divided into two groups: The Traditionalists and the Modernists; or the conservatives and the liberals. For example: both could be seriously arguing over an issue of what’s the right way of receiving communion: whether by hand or by tongue. Each side could actually present a hundred theologically, pastorally, and canonically sound reasons to assert and insist each other’s opinion. But we know that what matters most is our loving devotion to the Eucharist and our sincerity and worthiness to receive the body and blood of Christ. It’s the loving disposition that lies inside our heart that counts. Because we know that when there is love and devotion, it will always show in our reverent gestures. Our psalms today encourage us to allow God to teach us his ways. Jesus came to teach us God’s ways. Let us listen to the “Gospel” spoken by Jesus; for which Paul and the other apostles suffered as they preached it!