In this Sunday’s gospel (Mt 23:1-12), Jesus instructs his hearers to obey the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees because they “have taken their seat on the chair of Moses” (Mt 23:2), but not to follow their hypocritical example.

In identifying these two greatest commandments, Jesus is teaching us how to properly order to our love. The One whom we should love first above all others is God because God is more lovable than anyone or anything else. God is love (1 Jn 4:8) and therefore infinitely worthy of love. After God, I should love my neighbor as myself because my neighbor is equally worthy of love as I am.

The Eucharist is food given to us to sustain us on our journey through this dark valley. Heaven is a feast because heaven is nothing other than perfect union with God in Christ. There in that garden of repose we will truly have our fill, not of bread and wine, but of eternal life.

The people of Israel remain God’s chosen and cherished vineyard, only that vineyard has now been expanded, with new peoples grafted on to the vines. The vineyard now includes not only those genetically descended from Jacob, but people from every race and nation, as was prophesied by Isaiah (and others) in the Old Testament.