The greatest Commandment

Many years ago, while I was not yet a Seminarian but during the time when I was considering the possibility of being a priest, three of my school friends and I were given an opportunity to visit on a weekly basis with four children who were living at a place called Saint Agatha’s Village – located outside Waterloo, Ontario.  Once a week, we would spend a few hours with these boys.  We knew that each of them was a ward of the state, but we did not realize how deeply their emotional scars had been implanted.  One of the boys was a pyromaniac, another had been adopted – along with his sister, only to be returned to the orphanage because the adopting parents preferred to keep the girl rather than the boy.  Each of them had their own stories to tell, and our task was to listen.

I have thought about this experience from time to time across the many years that have come and gone since that time.  I have continued to pray for those boys, often wondering where they are now and what adventures they have experienced.  I wonder if they were ever able to trust another human being.  People with such deep emotional scars often find it difficult to trust because trust can only be built up when we are at least reasonably confident that the other person truly has our interests at heart.  It takes a long time for some people to trust others, especially those who have been hurt, those who have been rejected and those who have been wounded.

I still wonder – even after so many years – what image those boys have of God.  What horrendous things they must have seen and experienced.  Despite the constant efforts of many others who were undoubtedly part of their lives – such as the staff who cared for them, the psychotherapists who may have worked with them, and even visitors and mentors such as those four young men who came to visit each week, those boys most certainly had a different concept of who God is.

I wonder, if we were ever able to ask them the question that was asked of Jesus in today’s gospel, how would they respond?  Which commandment is the first of all? (Mk 12:28)  I cannot imagine what they may have thought of a word such as commandment, and if someone were to ask them about their image of Jesus, I doubt whether they would have said that He is a loving God.  They themselves had encountered so little love!

From the beginning of time, God has always wanted to live in peace with us, and God has always wanted us to live in harmony with each other.   In today’s first reading, we hear Moses calling out to the people: May you and your children, and your children’s children fear the Lord – perhaps it would be better understood if we were to substitute the word respect for the word fear - ... and keep all his decrees (Deut 6:2).  These words were meant to be a blessing, not a curse.

How much love have we encountered in our lives?  The presence of love – or the lack of it – will affect the way we hear the words that Jesus spoke to the scribe that day: You shall love the Lord your God ... and you shall love your neighbour as yourself (Mk 12:30-31).