Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 13:8-10; Luke 14:25-33)
Fr. Ignatius Smith was a brilliant, wise, and much-loved
professor at Catholic University of America in the middle of the last
century. He used to say -- half in jest
and half seriously -- quoting St. Paul, “’There are three virtues that remain:
faith, hope, and love’ and the greatest of these is prudence.” Today’s first
reading indicates why Fr. Smith’s statement is helpful.
Paul begins by citing five negative commandments, four of
which are from the Decalogue. He is
confirming a traditional starting place in ethics: “First, do no evil.” One cannot love everyone in the same way, but
one can and should refrain from doing evil to anyone. Then Paul states the commandment that covers
and goes beyond negative commandments: “…love your neighbor as yourself.” Although this statement is true, it requires distinctions
because one is not obliged to love everyone in the same way. One needs prudence to know how to love
parents, fellow-workers, etcetera.
In the reading Paul is nearing the end of his great Letter
to the Romans. He is giving practical
advice for all the theology he has laid out in the letter. The phrase “you shall love your neighbor as
yourself” sums up this application. It
is the same command that we hear Jesus making in the gospel (Mark 12:31). We are to love our neighbors, not necessarily
equally, but in any case sincerely.
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