EX 22:20-26; PS 18:2-4, 47, 51; 1 THES 1:5C-10; MT 22:34-40
Today's readings are all about love — God's faithful love for His people and the love we are called to return to Him and to one another. The stewardship way of life is simply the daily practice of these two greatest commandments.
From the beginning, God reveals Himself as a loving and compassionate Father who has a special concern for those most in need. He asks His people to show that same compassion in the way they treat one another.
Our First Reading from Exodus illustrates this beautifully. God commands His people not to oppress the foreigner, the widow, or the orphan. He even instructs them to return a poor person's cloak before sunset, explaining, "If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate." God's mercy is never meant to stop with us. It is meant to flow through us to others.
Jesus brings this teaching to its fulfillment in today's Gospel. When asked which commandment is the greatest, He answers, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." Then He immediately adds, "The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
These two commandments cannot be separated. The more deeply we love God, the more naturally we begin to love the people He places in our lives. And the way we love our neighbor becomes one of the clearest expressions of our love for God.
Living this out will look different for each of us. God may be inviting one person to deepen a daily habit of prayer, another to spend more time before Him in the Eucharist, and someone else to be more attentive to a family member, friend, or neighbor who needs encouragement. He may be calling us to serve in a parish ministry or simply to become more generous with our time and attention in the ordinary moments of each day.
The stewardship way of life is how each of us lives these two greatest commandments according to the vocation God has given us. In the end, stewardship is about one thing above all else — love.
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