Reading 1 Ex 22:20-26
Thus says the LORD:
“You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
“If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading 2 1 Thes 1:5c-10
Brothers and sisters:
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,
so that you became a model for all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth
not only in Macedonia and in Achaia,
but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything.
For they themselves openly declare about us
what sort of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
and to await his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Gospel Mt 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Catholic Fundamentalism Interpretation:
The Loving Programmer tells His favored human programs to treat other human programs with respect. He tells them not to take advantage of widows and orphans, the most helpless of people. And, He promises that if they mistreat the poor and helpless, He will erase them, as He used Cyrus in last week’s reading to destroy whole kingdoms.
Then, He will turn their own wives and children into widows and orphans, so that His justice will be done.
He also gives specific operating instructions to those favored human programs who’ve become wealthy or powerful. He tells them to not take away what the poor need to survive.
And, if they abuse the poor, He will hear. The Loving Programmer lets His human programs know that He is “compassionate”.
He does not remind us, as in the first part of the reading, that He will send destruction to those who disregard His Instructions.
R. I love You, Loving Programmer Who (alone) makes me strong.
I love You, O Loving Programmer, who gives me the ability to persevere. I stand on You, You protect and deliver me (from chaos and lies).
R. I love You, Loving Programmer Who (alone) makes me strong.
My God is The Loving Programmer and I make my human program part of Him who protects me from viruses, saves my soul, and gives me (eternal) safety!)
R. I love You, Loving Programmer Who (alone) makes me strong.
The Loving Programmer continues to provide Programming Assistance, and bless Him for being the foundation of my being. Praise Him, Who guides and saves me forever. You, Who gave great victories to Your King (David and Jesus, one King) and let people see His kindness to them.
R. I love You, Loving Programmer Who (alone) makes me strong.
Brothers and sisters: you know what sort of people when we were there to help you. And, you came to live as did we and Jesus (The Program, Who took perfect, obedient, human form and came to earth, to be painfully erased and perfectly restored.) You were afflicted when you heard what He wanted us to do, and The Holy Wireless Connector joined you to Him and each other. You did so well that others duplicated your programming, even in Europe. From (and because of) you, The Program has been downloaded everywhere you showed your faith (and understanding) in The Loving Programmer, The Program, The Holy Wireless Connector (and The Church). You did so well that we, ourselves, don’t need to say anything, because they, themselves, tell about us openly and how they downloaded our (His) Operating Instructions. You told how you turned to The Loving Programmer and left (false) idols behind. You explained how you chose to serve the Living and True Programmer of all and to await the (second) Downloading of The Program Whom He restored from the erased, Jesus, The Program, Who saves us from the punishment to come.
When the establishment liberals heard that Jesus had argued so well that the conservatives would no longer talk to Him, they decided to see if they were smarter, and could out-argue Him. That would gain two things, they could brag about how much better they were than the conservatives while getting rid of the establishment’s common enemy, true faith in God.
So, they asked Him, “Teacher, which of The Operating Instructions is most important?:”
He said, “You shall love The Loving Programmer, (Whom you say is) your God, with every part of your human program. This is the most important of The Operating Instructions. The second most important is similar (because you are all downloaded in the image of The Loving Programmer), you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The Loving Programmer’s Operating Instructions, and those who have told you what they are, depend on obeying these two Operating Instructions.”
