You Shall love the Lord your God with all your heart!

Reflection on God’s expectation of us Aaron Joseph Paul Hackett| Theology | June 16, 2024

God is my greatest good?

• Before I begin this Blog, let us all Pray this prayer together. It’s the Litany of Humility
• O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
  From the desire of being esteemed,
  Deliver me, Jesus. (repeat after each line)
  From the desire of being loved,
  From the desire of being extolled,
  From the desire of being honored,
  From the desire of being praised,
  From the desire of being preferred to others,
  From the desire of being consulted,
  From the desire of being approved,
  From the fear of being humiliated,
  From the fear of being despised,
  From the fear of suffering rebukes,
  From the fear of being calumniated,
  From the fear of being forgotten,
  From the fear of being ridiculed,
  From the fear of being wronged,
  From the fear of being suspected,
  That others may be loved more than I,
  Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. (repeat after each line)
  That others may be esteemed more than I ,
  That, in the opinion of the world,
  others may increase and I may decrease,
  That others may be chosen and I set aside,
  That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
  That others may be preferred to me in everything,
  That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should,[1]
• Amen.
• My brothers and sisters,
• Please allow me to share why this is the greatest good that we can do for ourselves. But before I start, let me ask you a question and then reflect on your own answer. Keep that answer to yourself and then compare it to where you think you stand. When you achieve an award or recognition, who earned it? When you are praised by your peers and superiors, do you deserve it? If you compare yourself with anyone else, do you think you’re better than them?
• When you were born, it would be very easy to say that I was born with knowledge, but how can you judge this to be true? Did you change your own diaper? Did you make your own Milk? Did you dress yourselves? When you got sick, did you create the medicine to cure yourself? Someone had to do it for you. Someone had to take their time to take you to the doctor. Someone had to enroll you in school. Someone had to teach you not to touch your hands on the stove because you can burn yourself. You may be wondering, okay I see your point, someone had to teach me these things. But what does someone teaching me something (my parents, my doctors, my professors, my bosses, etc) has anything to do with God?
• Ecclesiasticus 1:16- “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and was created with the faithful in the womb, it walketh with chosen women, and is known with the just and faithful.”  Everything that all human beings have been given, is to give God, who is infinitely good, perfect beyond comprehension, and very generous in his mercy the greater glory and to help our fellow man, for the love of our creator. The gifts that you have, whether you are a medical provider, a plumber, a cook, a butler, a child playing football on the streets of Iraq, etc. are all for the glory of God!
• We can’t allow ourselves to think that our talents and treasures are only for us alone. No, my brothers and sisters, they are meant to be shared and to help each other. Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC- 2055 states “When someone asks him, “Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?”⁸ Jesus replies: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.”  When we love God with all our hearts, we give him the greater glory, because he is the one who shares his treasure with us, and without God, all we have is our nothingness. When we love our neighbor (anyone who is outside of your family) with care, concern, and charity, we demonstrate our love of God, by loving them, who is also created in the image and likeness of God.[2]  
• “The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord.[3]” Sirach 3:18 is a section of a passage, which explains the duties of a child from his earthly parent. We can also see it as God, who is our Heavenly Father looking out for his creation by giving us his ten commandments to follow. To have a structured life. Here is a section from Exodus 20:1-17
• “Then God spoke all these words:
• 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 other gods before me.
•  You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
•  You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
•  Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
• Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
•  You shall not murder.
• You shall not commit adultery.
• You shall not steal.
• You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
•  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
•  
• God gave us his laws to live in harmony. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God came to fulfill the law by showing us in his humility how to Love with your whole heart. He is the standard that we must emulate. How do we do this? Only with prayer and asking for the Mercy of God to transform our hearts. Only by his grace can we do the hard task of living this life journey. We must not be afraid to go to Almighty God in prayer. He answers in the quietness of our hearts. All we must do is listen to His Holy Will and respond. Let us end here with the Lord’s prayer…….
• “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom comes, you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
•  
• God bless you all my brothers and sisters!
•  
• Aaron Joseph Paul Hackett
•  
•  
•  
•  

---

[1] https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/litany-of-humility.html

[2] Genesis 1:26 Douay Rheims Version

[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Sirach%203&version=NRSVCE