4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
What is the greatest commandment? What is the summary of our faith? Love is the greatest commandment and love is the summary of our faith. God is love and in His love we find solace and peace. Many times we doubt our strength and spiritual capabilities because of our lack of love for ourselves. Our lack of love has made us see ourselves as incompetent and incapable of living out our Catholic faith because of our weaknesses. Prophet Jeremiah re-echoes God’s words to him stating "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD." These words of God to Prophet Jeremiah informs us of God’s love for us and His strength in us. God loves us and wants us to live out His love in our world.
Of course this is not an easy feat to achieve, especially when we hear today’s gospel reading from the gospel of Saint Luke 4:21-30 where Jesus was rejected and not accepted in His hometown. And so did Prophet Jeremiah experience opposition and lack of faith in our First reading today, but in those situations, both Jesus and Prophet Jeremiah placed their hope and trust in God. So we cannot give up when we are faced with opposition, hate, rejection, and lack of faith, because we are God’s children. We are reminded by God Himself in His words to Prophet Jeremiah in our first reading today that we are His children and that when they fight against us, they will not prevail over us, because He is with us to deliver us.
So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us conquer opposition, rejection, hate, discrimination and lack of faith with love as emphasized by Saint Paul in our second reading today from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 12:31-13:13 because God is love and whoever lives in love, lives in God. Amen!
