Charity is First to God
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.”Ps. 15
True love can only be given by the one who first loves God and loves others out of love for God; that is why it is possible to love always and everyone – those you like and those you don’t, those who do you good and those who persecute you. Out of love for God, you love them too. That’s why everyone wins when you fulfill the first commandment and love God above all things and people.
“For the love of God is this, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.”1 John 5:3
That’s why St. Augustine said: “Love and do what you will,” because the charity he refers to is understood to be first directed to God. This will lead you to always please Him, and thus you will be able to do whatever you will, because you will never violate the commandments or the law of love. Jesus clearly showed us this first commandment in His own life, for He lived to love the Father: “I do nothing on my own; what the Father tells me, that I do…”
In this way, He teaches us to love God, and this is what gives transcendence to our lives. Without this vertical dimension of love, we remain on the horizontal level, at the instinctive level – which we can also observe in animals. Look at how they defend their young even to the point of giving their lives; look at how pets show affection to their owners, and so on.
We cannot remove from our love its essential dimension, which is vertical: to love all creatures out of love for God, not merely to appreciate them for their own sake. Otherwise, we can fall into idolatry – of money, things, pets, or people. If we remove the spiritual dimension that recognizes in all of them the love of God who created them out of love for you — for your delight and to lead you to love Him more and trust Him more – then we fall into an idolatry that separates us from God, even though they were meant precisely to unite us more to God and to increase our love for Him.
We have not yet learned this art of truly loving. We remain in human and carnal affection, like Peter when did not dare to say he loved Jesus with perfect love but could only say he liked or appreciated Him. We must learn to love God through all His creatures – things and people.
The Canticle of the Creatures by St. Francis: Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures, especially Brother Sun, who is the day, and through whom You give us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; of You, Most High, he bears the likeness. Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens, You have made them bright, precious, and fair. Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air and the clouds, and fair and all weather, by which You give sustenance to Your creatures. Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water, who is very useful, humble, precious, and chaste…
St. Bridget Prayers, Explained!
St. Bridget of Sweden (d. 1373) was a noblewoman of the Middle Ages whose renowned mysticism centered on the passion of Christ. A mother of eight and an attendant at the royal court in Sweden, as a widow she founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, advocated for reform in the church and for the return of the Pope to Rome from France.
The St. Bridget Prayers refer to 15 prayers attributed to Bridget which evoke the imagery of Christ’s suffering and death, plead for the forgiveness of the supplicant’s sins, for a happy death, for fear and love of the Lord, and for a renunciation of worldly desires.
For many years, these prayers were associated with divine promises, though in 1954 the Catholic Church declared that it could not be said that these promises were of supernatural origin. The prayers themselves remain beloved and popular devotions to Christ’s passion.
Weekly Readings
Sunday: Gn 18:1-10a/Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 5 (1a)/Col 1:24-28/Lk 10:38-42
Monday: Ex 14:5-18/Ex 15:1bc-2, 3-4, 5-6/Mt 12:38-42
Tuesday: Sg 3:1-4b or 2 Cor 5:14-17/Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9/Jn 20:1-2, 11-18
Wednesday: Ex 16:1-5, 9-15/Ps 78:18-19, 23-24, 25-26, 27-28/Mt 13:1-9
Thursday: Ex 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b/Dn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56/Mt 13:10-17
Friday: 2 Cor 4:7-15/Ps 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6/ Mt 20:20-28
Saturday: Ex 24:3-8/Ps 50:1b-2, 5-6, 14-15/Mt 13:24-30
Next Sunday: Gn 18:20-32/Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8 (3a)/Col 2:12-14/Lk 11:1-13
Observances for the Week
Sunday: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Tuesday: Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene
Friday: Feast of Saint James, Apostle
Saturday: Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Next Sunday: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
