It has been a
rule in our refectory that during meal time, no one can use his cellphone and
check updates or messages in his social media account. Anyone who is caught
using his phone will pay fines. This rule was made because priests are not
excused from the distractions social media brought to our life. In the advent
of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, updates, tweets, and posts have interrupted
the life of priests too. Due to these unnecessary distractions, some of us miss
the important part of our meals: not the food certainly, but the conversations
we can have among ourselves. Some things in life, if left unchecked, can move
us away from the essentials of life.
In the Gospel, a
scribe asked Jesus about the greatest of the laws (Mk 12:28-34). Why would a
scribe, a teacher of the law, ask Jesus about the greatest of the laws? Did he not
know this as a teacher of the law? God allowed this scribe to ask such a question
so that he may come face to face with the essentials of the laws. As a scribe,
he may have been distracted all along by the 613 laws they have created and may
have missed the one law that really matters. He may have lost sight of the One
God due to the gods man had created and worshipped. Thus, Jesus, in answering
the scribe, emphasized that there is but One God who commands one thing to man:
to love. Having love as the main principle of life, man is not far from the
kingdom of the God of love; of God who is love.
Like the scribe,
we too might be distracted by thousands of things we have prioritized in our
life: our careers, physical appearance, worldly riches, etc. We have been
preoccupied with things that hinder us from seeing the essential thing in our life:
Love. The little gods we have created by our hands and minds have moved us far
away from the God who loves us. Thus, consequently, we fail to return and
imitate such love that God offers to us. Jesus exhorts us as the people of old
were encouraged: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart. It is difficult to love someone with our
whole heart if the object of our love has rivals with whom we busy ourselves
with. Thus, God says: I am the Lord your God: hear my voice. By listening to
God, we are directed to Him who should be the primary object of our love. If we
love God first in our life, this love will necessarily cascade to our
neighbors, because it is through them that we can express our love to God.
Put aside the
little gods we have created!
Put Jesus first,
only Jesus in our life!
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