30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle A) October 29, 2017

Reading I: Exodus 22:20-26    If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.
Responsorial Psalm: 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51   R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading II: 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10       ....Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40                      The Greatest Commandment

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Gospel 

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking,

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 

He said to him,

"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

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Commentary inspired by St. Augustine of Hippo:

[This Sunday’s]  Gospel reminds us of the importance of love.  For when Jesus was asked what were the most important commandments of the law, He answered:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

And then, just in case you might be tempted to search further through the pages of Holy Scripture for some commandments other than these two, Jesus added:

“The entire law and the prophets also depend upon these two commandments.”

If the entire law and the prophets depend upon these two commandments, how much more must the gospel do so?

People are renewed by love. As sinful desire ages them, so love rejuvenates them.

Love was present under the old covenant just as it is under the new, though then it was more hidden and fear was more apparent, whereas now love is more clearly seen and fear is diminished.

For as love grows stronger we feel more secure, and when our feeling of security is complete fear vanishes, since, as the apostle John declares:  

“Perfect love casts out fear.”  ~ 1 John 4:18

St. Augustine’s   -- Sermon 350A, 1-2: PLS 2, 449-450

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sources:
http://liturgy.slu.edu/30OrdA102917/theword_journey.html
https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2017/09/16/open-the-bible-at-any-page-and-you-will-find-it-extolling-love/

Augustine (354-430) was born at Thagaste in Africa and received a Christian education, although he was not baptized until 387. In 391 he was ordained priest and in 395 he became coadjutor bishop to Valerius of Hippo, whom he succeeded in 396. Augustine's theology was formulated in the course of his struggle with three heresies: Manichaeism, Donatism, and Pelagianism. His writings are voluminous and his influence on subsequent theology immense. He molded the thought of the Middle Ages down to the thirteenth century. Yet he was above all a pastor and a great spiritual writer.