Daily Gospel Reflection for August 22, 2025

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

Reflection by Amy Dyke

Today's Gospel: Matthew 23:34-40

It’s that time of year when families shake off the restful nature of summer schedules and prepare for the rigor of the new school year. The scripture today caused me to recall a transformative time in my early years of parenting and a gallant effort on my part to create order amidst the chaos. I proudly produced a long list of rules and “commandments” for my little girls to follow. After a few weeks of feeling more like a policewoman than a mom, however, I found that forced order didn’t quite fit our family dynamics. 

In prayer one evening, completely defeated, God heard my plea for guidance. Admitting that my efforts to bring order were creating more stress in our family, I resolved to listen better in my prayer time. In that moment, I felt God powerfully remind me of my earlier years of serving as a missionary, long before I was married, and the joy of embracing the Greatest Commandment: loving God above everything, and secondly, loving my neighbor as myself. I felt God asking me to stop overcomplicating my children’s formation and to return to the foundation that Jesus shared in Matthew 22:34-40:

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The Greatest Commandment helped remind me to simplify our girls’ precious formative years on the two most important relationships that matter: loving God and loving neighbor. This refocus transformed our daily interactions and helped us to grow in joy, and authentic love, as a family. The rest fell into place, imperfectly, but with plenty of love. 

Ponder:

Where are you in your family’s journey of establishing the foundation of the Greatest Commandment, to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind followed by loving your neighbor as yourself?

Pray:

Dear Jesus, help us to love You with all our heart, soul, and mind. May our immense love for You animate us to love those in our family and beyond with authentic and sincere love.

Copyright 2025 Amy Dyke

Amy Dyke, wife to Craig for 26 years and mother of five daughters, is the Director of the Father Peyton Center at Holy Cross Family Ministries in Easton, MA. Amy and her husband delight in family life evangelization, especially marriage ministry. Their personal website can be found at www.catholicmarriagefellowship.com.