I couldn't get to my computer yesterday, but this reflection is based on yesterday's gospel...
Earlier this year I had a bought with bronchitis that took me out for about 10 days. During that time I discovered that my iPad with face recognition does not recognize my face without makeup! At first I thought I was not directly in front of it, or that I missed a step, but nope it definitely refused to let me into my own iPad with my un-made up face! I tried every day when I was sick and denied access (I could get in with my pass code, but not with my face). I distinctly remember my first day back to work, having on my normal makeup, and so I thought I would test the theory that I had a hunch about, but I was also embarrassed at the thought of it being true. I mean, come on, do I look THAT different without makeup? IPad, are you judging me unworthy because I look plain? Who am I really? Am I that vain? I know I get carried away sometimes, but these questions really did come up, and of course, the darn thing opened immediately with my made up face. Ugh. I am that vain! Darn it.
So I got to thinking…what if entrance into heaven is based on face recognition? Which face would it recognize? Would Jesus know me as I am? Or would he only know the me created in my own image? I started to think about why I wear makeup in the first place. Is it to cover or hide? Or is it to enhance and bring out what is already there? Obviously, I like the enhancing what is already there answer…it makes me feel slightly less vain. But, if we stick with that definition or reason for makeup then today’s gospel stirs something in me – being loved by God, love of God, for God, love of others, and love of self. Makeup your face with love to enhance the already present love that gives us the gleam in our eye, the sparkle in our smile, the glow in our cheeks. We can indeed enhance our own beauty by wearing more love and that changes our face. This changed face is what will be recognized because it reflects the one looking at it. The two commandments Jesus gives us today allow us to be recognized and also to recognize love made more, love enhanced, love that changes the way we look, and love that changes the way we see.
All that from a silly technological glitch and isn’t God so amazing to speak to us in the ordinary? It is well with my soul.
Reading 1 RU 1:1, 3-6, 14B-16, 22
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land;
so a man from Bethlehem of Judah
departed with his wife and two sons
to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women,
one named Orpah, the other Ruth.
When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also,
and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab
because word reached her there
that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, "See now!
Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god.
Go back after your sister-in-law!"
But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God."
Thus it was that Naomi returned
with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.
They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
so a man from Bethlehem of Judah
departed with his wife and two sons
to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women,
one named Orpah, the other Ruth.
When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also,
and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab
because word reached her there
that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, "See now!
Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god.
Go back after your sister-in-law!"
But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God."
Thus it was that Naomi returned
with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.
They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Responsorial Psalm PS 146:5-6AB, 6C-7, 8-9A, 9BC-10
R.(1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;
The LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Alleluia PS 25:4B, 5A
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"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."
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"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."
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