Friday 21 August

ST PIUS X, POPE

Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22; Ps 146; Matthew 22:34-40

Love God and your neighbour

There’s no doubt – sometimes it’s difficult to feel any neighbourly charity. Loud parties, rubbish that doesn’t get disposed of, cheeky children, bossy know-alls, the borrowers that never return … It can be convenient to assume Jesus wasn’t talking about these neighbours when he said we were to love them as we love ourselves. (Really, we convince ourselves, he was actually talking about our neighours in far-away countries …). The evidence of everything else Jesus says points to a different conclusion, though: his words are simple, his directives clear.

Perhaps if everyone really loved their neighbours, we’d all be at peace. Let’s pray to God, whom we love above all else and can do anything, for this.