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We have heard that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength and all our soul. And to love our our neighbour as ourselves. We do so when we keep his commandments and statutes. Yet do we understand the depth and intricacies of these simple commandments? For instance, we have only one creator of heaven and earth should we be allowed at anytime to offer worship of things created through human hands? Or for that matter nature or persons crafted by the Lord our God Himself? Or when we work seven days a week fully immersed in our work and our accomplishments are we not saying that we do not need the Lord our God in our lives? Are we not in a sense building our own kingdom for ourselves? What about when we say we have never committed murder nor will ever do so, but kill the spirit of another through our harsh words and criticisms? Do not steal? What about when we steal the ideas of others or take credit for something we have not done? Or bring stationery home from the office we work at? Have we not been jealous in our hearts when we see others living the high life with luxuries and travelling the world over? Have some not secretly entertained thoughts in their hearts thinking ”Oh how nice it would be if he was my husband or she was my wife instead?”

Most of the sins above frequently occurs when the Word of God remains at a distance, even if we hold on to part of it if at all; we do so with a shallow disposition, lukewarm at best. How then can we say we love Him when we do not know Him? How can we know Him if we do not read and dwell on Him through scripture? When we do not grow in our faith through study, attending formation and putting to practice what we have learnt? When we do not have time for prayer or adoration of Him? How then are our lives and the lives of others enriched by our response or lack thereof to His call to love and to do His Will according to His Word?

Lord Jesus let the declaration of my love for you be seen through the work of my hands which till the fertile soil of hearts to prepare for a rich harvest in your most Holy name. Amen

St Joachim and St Anne pray for us…

First reading

Exodus 20:1-17
The Law given at Sinai

God spoke all these words. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
‘You shall have no gods except me.
‘You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
‘You shall not utter the name of the Lord your God to misuse it, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.
‘Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath for the Lord your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it sacred.
‘Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God has given to you.
‘You shall not kill.
‘You shall not commit adultery.
‘You shall not steal.
‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.’

Gospel

Matthew 13:18-23
The man who hears the word and understands it yields a rich harvest

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’