Are you far from the kingdom of God? In the Gospel proclamation today, St.Mark prompts us to ask ourselves that question. It offers us an opportunity to do a reality check on how we are moving along in our pilgrimage of faith.

We are all in this together but we need from time to time to examine our own personal journey based on our faith commitment to the person of Jesus.We learn from the righteous scribe to praise the Lord Jesus for giving the best answer possible to his profound question about which commandment is first; he means which one is the top priority. Our Lord responds “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, is the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Jesus adds that the second is tied in with the first, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

Thus the scribe helps us to learn from Jesus who answers his question and gives us the best answer possible for setting our priorities. To love God, our neighbor and ourselves properly will give us a step towards peace, justice, and integrity of life. This puts us into the realm of God as the scribe was in that realm. Would it not be great to hear Jesus saying to us, “You are not far from the kingdom of God?” It is Jesus who teaches us how to love God and our neighbor. Jesus will bless us just as he blessed the scribe. In this Gospel proclamation there is little given to the praise of others; this includesthe apostles. Some of the women followers are praised but it is rare for others to be praised as Jesus does for this scribe and to another God-fearing young man who however could not leave his possessions behind to follow Jesus. Jesus answers his question from the Mosaic Law as expressed in the book of Deuteronomy. The answer is also the creed of our Catholic Church and that of Judaism. He adds the commandment to love our neighbor but that too is part of the Mosaic law. Today we can learn how to praise Jesus in the words of the scribe: “Excellent Teacher, you are right in saying, ‘He is the One,there is no other than He.” Amen

Prayer: Thank you Abba Father for this revelation.