Daily Gospel Reflection for August 19, 2022

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Reflection by Tracy Eisner

Today's Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40

Love God. Love your neighbor.

What about when it’s hard to love God? When it’s hard to love your neighbor? This world holds many injustices, and life is vastly unfair at times. It seems each generation experiences a world more divided than the previous generation, and history continues on this road. Anxiety, confusion, frustration, and impatience run rampant among us. It is no coincidence that we are growing apart from God and, as a result, each other. We are a stiff-necked people and the chaos that breeds among us confirms this truth.

How can we fix this? Can we fix this? We must look to Christ as our model; He teaches us through example. Love one another. Love the unlovable: the prostitute, the tax collector, the blind and the lame, those struggling with demons, and those whom we disagree with. Love one another. We must look beyond our differences and see the person, the human, whose very basic needs are the same as ours: food/shelter, safety, love, self-esteem, self-actualization. It is okay to agree to disagree, and we don’t have to befriend those with different fundamental beliefs, but we must love one another. Be kind. Be respectful. Show compassion and empathy and respond in love when basic human needs are threatened. We are the hands and feet of Christ, and if we live our lives in this manner, we can change the world we live in.

These commandments are the answer to every social issue in our world. When we love God, He guides us and provides us the strength, courage, and grace to love our neighbor. When we love our neighbor, that love and mercy spread the light that will stamp out the darkness of the world. When we love in the Spirit, we grow stronger because when God is with us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

Ponder:

In our broken world, how can we love God more fully? How can we share that love with our neighbor to perpetuate this cycle of grace and mercy?

Pray:

Lord, help me to identify a small area in my life where I can grow in my love of Christ, allowing that love to actively flow to my neighbors.

Click to tweet:
Be kind. Be respectful. We are the hands and feet of Christ, and if we live our lives in this manner, we can change the world we live in. #dailygospel

Copyright 2022 Tracy Eisner

Tracy Eisner is a wife of 27 years to her high school sweetheart with four grown children (how did THAT happen?) and a dog and cat to round out the emptying nest. Lover of the beach and the mountains, a good cup of coffee with a book and a comfy chair! https://makingthetrek.com/about/