St. John Nepomucene

Love God and Neighbor

We enter the month of November.  It is a time to remember, give thanks and share our blessings.  With the Feast of All Saints and All Souls, we remember our loved ones who have died.  In reference to All Saints, we celebrate those who received the Light of Christ in prayer, shined that Light by good deeds and who are in heaven.  In reference to All Souls, we pray for those who are still in need of our prayers for purification so that they can enter into heaven.  You can think of purgatory as the entrance hall to heaven.  The good news is that these souls are on their way home.  The traditional teaching of purgatory is that we need purification to fully embrace a loving God.  Sometimes, that purification takes place in our earthly life.  Sometimes, it takes place in the afterlife.  There is a long tradition of saying prayers and making sacrifices for our loved ones who have died to assist them on their journey.

During November we remember our deceased parishioners and loved ones.  We remember in a special way those from our community and our families who died from November 1, 2017 thru October 31^st of this year.  Their names are written in the Book of Life by Mary’s altar and on the large sign by

St. Joseph’s altar.  Also, the names submitted in the All Soul envelopes are in the basket on the altar of sacrifice.

Jesus speaks of the double Commandment in today’s gospel.  The scribe asks Jesus for the summary of what is important.  The scribe asks him, “Which is the greatest commandment?”  Jesus replies with two Commandments.  He says, “The first is this, Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”  “The second is this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  He goes on to say, “There’s is no other commandment greater than these.”

The Torah, the Jewish Book of Law had 612 prescriptions.  Jesus summarizes everything with the double commandment of Love of God and Love of Neighbor.  It all begins and ends with what is in your heart.  What is your internal disposition?  As I review my conduct, it is periodically good to ask, am I doing this out of love for God?  Out of love for another?  For that is the goal.

Our parish St. Vincent de Paul Society has published their annual financial report.  I am grateful for the members of our St. Vincent de Paul Society for their work and to our parishioners for their generosity.  It is a good example of loving one’s neighbor.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors and also to love our enemies, probably because they are generally the same people.”  It is far easier to love faraway victims of disasters through a donation than to love at times those who are closest to us, family members who have hurt us or let us down, irritating persons, know-it-all relatives, neighbors who mow their lawns at 7 am on Saturday morning or people who have different political opinions.

What do we do with difficult people?  The first answer is always to pray and offer up sacrifices for them.  Since you are called to love and at times it may be difficult, ask God for help in prayer.  The goal is always reconciliation.  We take steps towards that goal.  It may or may not happen fully.  But we make attempts with God’s help.

Probably when we think of our loved ones who have died, we are touched by their sacrificial love for us.  I am grateful for the custom of making memorial gifts in their name.  This helps us with our capital improvements.  Interestingly enough, making sacrificial gifts also in the name of someone who has died also helps him or her on their journey to heaven if they should be in the state of purgatory in need of the assistance of additional prayers and sacrifices to enter heaven.

We see the leaves changing.  When it is sunny and you see the beautiful colors of the leaves, think this, the leaves are most beautiful when they are dying.  Autumn is a good season of Death and Resurrection.  In addition to our final deaths and resurrections, every day we are called to die and we are called rise in little and maybe big ways.

What am I called to die to?  What am I called to rise to?  For example, I can die to resentment and rise to forgiveness.  I can die to selfishness and rise to generosity.  Everyone is being asked to die to something and to rise to something.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you find the answer.

May God’s unconditional love flow into our hearts and into our relationships.