“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”–St. Augustine

The Greatest Commandment Attracts God’s Blessings

My Dearest Friends in Christ

I welcome you in the peace and love of Christ. Today, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, gives us another opportunity to embrace love and righteousness, reconcile with God, and reflect on His enduring patience with our sinful world.

Oppression Angers God, but Love Attracts His Blessings

If there is any sin that cries to heaven for justice and provokes God’s anger, it is the oppression of the vulnerable among us. In Matthew 20:26–27, Jesus teaches that greatness comes through service: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” We are called to love and serve the poor, not exploit them.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where the powerful and privileged often lord it over the poor and weak, taking advantage of others to achieve selfish objectives. Oppressive structures and unjust policies undermine Christian values and allow hatred to flourish where love should prevail.

We see societies in which people face racial discrimination and unequal opportunities, religious beliefs become grounds for ridicule or intolerance, and freedom of expression is restricted by social pressure. Migrants and immigrants may also suffer discrimination, receive low wages, and struggle to afford adequate housing and food. These realities remind us that Christian love must extend beyond words to challenge injustice and protect human dignity.

God Condemns Oppression and Calls Us to Protect the Vulnerable

The first reading offers a divine warning. For those who turn a deaf ear to God’s Word, it reveals how deeply He detests oppression. God declares: “My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will be widows, and your children orphans.” These words sound severe, but they reveal the seriousness of exploiting the defenseless.

When the Israelites were oppressed in Egypt under Pharaoh’s tyranny, God confronted their oppressors and delivered His people. Throughout Scripture, God hears the cries of those who suffer injustice, including widows, orphans, and the poor.

When I see innocent lives lost through war, families widowed and orphaned by violence, including in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other parts of the world, and communities impoverished by unjust systems, my heart breaks. Leaders oppress citizens, but we also oppress one another, including those whose survival depends on our generosity, love, and concern. We have a moral responsibility to protect their interests and defend their dignity. Has love completely eluded our world?

Consider how we treat those who borrow from us. Did you hear God condemning exploitation and extortion? Charging excessive or exploitative interest to someone already struggling can deepen that person’s suffering. Why turn an opportunity to help into a means of profiting from another’s hardship? What about those who confiscate another person’s property without mercy because of an unpaid debt? Can we truly justify such actions without considering justice, compassion, and the circumstances of the vulnerable?

The problem is often the absence of love in our hearts. If I had to describe love in one sentence, I would say that love is the beauty of our human nature. Take love away, and humanity becomes ruthless.

The Greatest Commandment: Love God and Love Your Neighbor

In the Gospel, a scholar of the law tests Jesus by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Like others who sought to trap Him, the scholar hoped Jesus would elevate one commandment at the expense of another. Instead, Jesus reveals the central principle that gives meaning to the entire law: love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34–40).

God created us in His image, and that image reflects our calling to live in love. God is love; therefore, we are called to love and be loved. To refuse to love is to deny something essential to the purpose for which we were created.

People sometimes grow hateful because painful experiences and the society around them have shaped their responses. Are you filled with hatred or animosity toward a person, a group, or even your country? I understand how the harsh realities of life may have contributed to these feelings, but you must embrace the liberating power of love. Love does not require us to approve of wrongdoing or remain silent before injustice; rather, it calls us to oppose evil without surrendering our hearts to hatred. It is essential for peaceful and harmonious coexistence.

Loving God Above All Things Must Shape Our Daily Lives

Jesus teaches that loving God with our whole heart, soul, and mind is the first and greatest commandment. To love God in this way means allowing His love to guide our choices and remembering that everything we have, especially life itself, comes from Him. It is a call to worship God amid the competing idols of this world, including wealth, power, status, and selfish ambition.

People may not always deserve our love in the way we think they should, but we are still called to love because God first loves us. In loving others, we respond to the love we have received from Him.

Loving our neighbor also means respecting the image of God in every human person. These two commandments are inseparable: we cannot sincerely claim to love God while deliberately mistreating our neighbor, nor can we fully understand Christian love without acknowledging its divine source.

Respect Human Dignity and Reject Selfishness

Those who maltreat vulnerable people, exploit the poor, deny others their rights, or take innocent lives fail to respect their fellow human beings as persons created in God’s image. To love our neighbor is to uphold the dignity of every human person, a dignity that does not disappear because of poverty, weakness, nationality, or social status.

To love ourselves properly is also to care for our spiritual and bodily well-being in a way that reflects God’s love and respects the needs of others. When we neglect God and our neighbors in order to satisfy our selfish desires, we distort the meaning of self-love. Selfishness opens the door to oppression, extortion, greed, and other forms of evil.

As St. Paul reminds us in the second reading, our goal should be to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ so that we become “a model for all the believers” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:6–7).

May our love therefore become visible in how we treat workers, migrants, the poor, our families, and those who disagree with us. Let us not merely profess the greatest commandment; let us embody it through justice, mercy, generosity, and service. Amen

May God create a new spirit and a new heart in us, so that through His grace in this Eucharistic mystery, we may be true lovers of God, our neighbor, and ourselves. May our Mother Mary intercede for us. Amen

I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2026)