THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT.
November 3, 2024. Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – B. Readings: Dt 6:2-6; Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51; Heb 7:23-28; Mk12:28b-34. "There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31 An English proverb says: “He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” A Sicilian proverb adds: “Who loves God with all his heart, lives happy and dies happy.” According to the New Testament, the greatest commandment is two-part: First, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Second, love your neighbor as yourself. Let's first leave aside today's readings and go to a beautiful work of intellectual art, the Paulinian hymn of love. There, the Apostle of the Gentiles sings in 1 Cor 13:1-13 14: "Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing..." And the Apostle ends his poetic litany of love with this solemn proclamation: "As it is, these remain: fait