Present Yourself

Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God, a workman who causes no disgrace, imparting the word of truth without deviation. 2 Timothy 2:15

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." Mark 12:29-31

Piety

Here I am Lord. I come to do your will.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/060508.shtml

Does religious education get any easier than this?

For some people, the study leg of the Tripod may be the easiest leg. For others, it might be the hardest. However, when we get a lesson directly from Jesus like today, everything we need to study is compressed into two elegant commandments. You won't even need two stone tablets to record these commandments.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

In our era of Instant Messaging, Electronic Mail, Power Point, and more, our attention span is shorter than ever. Jesus must have known that Ten Commandments were too many for our human minds to remember so he made it easier on us. Jesus must have known that Ten Commandments were too many for our human hearts to put into action so he made it easier on us.

These greatest commandments reflect the simplicity of the legs in our tripod.

With all your heart and soul – piety

With all your mind – study

With all your strength, your neighbor as yourself – action

Obedience and Humility. Service and Leadership.

Jesus knows that we will be unfaithful. Yet in the Letter to Timothy, St. Paul tells us that Jesus can never repay our unfaithfulness in kind. He can never deny himself even though we might deny him.

St. Paul concludes the reading from his letter to Timothy with an apt image…an image of a workman who causes no disgrace. The worker puts in a fair days work for a fair day's wage. The worker not only makes the boss proud of the product that is produced but also causes no pain or disgrace.

Action

Let us go forward today in a way that makes Jesus proud of our attention and obedience to his greatest commandments. Let us go forward today in a way that causes Jesus no harm or pain or disgrace by us denying him or testing him. Just as Jesus' response to the Pharisee was well received, the Pharisee also responded with grace that led Jesus to conclude that he was "not far from the Kingdom of God." What can you do today to elicit the same kind of response from Jesus? What can you do today that will bring out a comment like, "Well done, student" from our Teacher?