Polishing The Golden Rule

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions. - Mk. 12:28-34

I am struggling today to come up with something even semi-original about today's gospel. It is probably one of the most well known and most recited non-Christmas or Easter passages by even Catholics.

From childhood we are taught and memorize the "Golden Rule" that Christ lays out in today's reading. Whether you are in public or private school, we all know that in order to gain respect, we must treat others with that same respect. Now do we always do this? Absolutely not.

I am probably the most guilty at this. I will admit that I take advantage of my authoritative power over my students. I can sometimes treat them with contempt and be as rude as they can are to one another. Yet, I expect them to show me the utmost respect just because I am their teacher. Then I get furious when they don't show me respect. This is exactly what Jesus doesn't want us to do.

The one that I think we all struggle with a lot is that first commandment. How can we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? I mean it is easy to say that we do, especially when we have been blessed with so much. But what about when we face struggles or hardships? How often do we hear the words "I hate God right now," from someone who tragedy has befallen? What prevents us from being the hypocrites that Jesus condemns? It is the fact that since God's love knows no end and God is always there for us, we can redeem ourselves and strengthen our love and faith in him as a result of these dark moments in our lives.

So let us polish the Golden Rule that hangs above in our minds. Let us reaffirm our commitment to it and continue to strengthen our faith in God.