THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Year A

Readings

First Reading
Ex 22:20–26

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 18:2–3, 3–4, 47, 51

Second Reading
1 Thes 1:5c–10

Gospel
Mt 22:34–40

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Taken from the Vatican II Sunday and Weekday Missal
Written by Celia Sirois

Matthew wrote his Gospel in the aftermath of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The loss of the Temple as the center of Jewish life evoked a variety of responses from within Judaism. One of the most important was the effort by a coalition of priests and scribes and Pharisees to fashion a program of Jewish life that revolved around the Torah as they interpreted it. This was the beginning of the rabbinic Judaism as we know it. Matthew’s Christian Jewish community was another minority response to the destruction of the Temple. The program advocated by this community also revolved around Torah, but as interpreted by Jesus. In today’s Gospel we learn that the key to Jesus’ interpretation of the “whole law and the prophets” is the double commandment.

The two greatest commandments, though distinct, cannot be separated, for love of God finds practical expression in love of neighbor. Similarly in Exodus, fidelity in covenant with God is expressed in compassion toward the neighbor in need, and in 1 Thessalonians, the Gospel never comes in word alone.

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul