Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Exodus 22:20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10; Matthew 22:34-40
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In today’s gospel, Jesus once again is being challenged by the religious authorities. Last week, the Pharisees were having a go at him about rendering unto Caesar. Then came the Sadducees questioning him about resurrection. Now the Pharisees are back at it. One of their number, a clever lawyer, is keen to get a reading on which commandment in the law is the greatest. The more legalistic rabbis point out that there are no less than 613 commandments in the Torah – 248 positive, declaring ‘You shall…’ and 365 negative, declaring ‘You shall not…’. Two oft quoted commands were from Deuteronomy 6:5: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might’; and from Leviticus 19:18: ‘You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.’
What’s distinctive about Jesus is that he singles out these 2 commandments and runs them together: ‘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 neighbour as yourself.’ He then says, ‘The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.’ The law and the prophets are fulfilled when we hold together love of neighbour and love of God.
We Christians spend our lives trying to hold together our love of God and love of neighbour. We Christians can’t do one without the other. We can hold these two commands together only through prayer and action, being contemplatives in action. Our love of God is trite without our being immersed in God’s love for us, for our neighbour and for the whole of creation.
This past week, we have all been devastated by the evil, intentional attack on Helen Haines, a respected member of parliament. Her fellow parliamentarian Allegra Spender described her as ‘one of the most outstanding people in the Parliament’ and ‘the best of us’.
There has been universal praise for Helen and for the many courageous first responders who put themselves in harm’s way so that Helen might be saved. The barber Ricky Jefferies who was the very first responder said, ‘I don’t think I’m a hero. I was a person who had an opportunity to intervene in a safe-ish sort of way. I’m humbled, and I’m grateful and blessed to have been there to help’. How blessed are we all that Ricky was there to help. How blessed are we that Ricky was able humbly to count himself blessed to be in harm’s way.
The Anglican bishop of Wangaratta, Bishop Clarence Bester, presided at an ecumenical prayer service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral. Describing Helen as a woman of ‘courage, grace, and deep integrity’, he addressed a message to her: ‘God is with you every step of the way.’
He told the congregation: ‘We offer these prayers to send our collective strength to her as she fights for her life, to wrap her family and staff in comfort, and to declare that our community will always choose kindness, decency, and care.’
The Anglican Primate of Australia, Dr Mark Short, said: ‘Hatred wants to devour us, and we must not let it. Every person must guard their heart against hatred, which is a deadly virus that infects relationships and societies.’ He called for prayers for elected representatives and for peace: ‘May God grant safety, wisdom, courage and perseverance to our elected leaders, and may all Australians seek peace and work together to address injustices.’
Prime Minister Albanese called on us to be like Helen: ‘Kindness. Passion. Caring. That’s the best way that we can pay tribute to Helen Haines.’
Despite the amputation of both her legs and with her still being in a critical condition, Helen’s loving and adoring husband Phil could say, ‘We are grateful and thankful that, at this stage, both her heart and her mind are in good shape.’
The Governor General Sam Mostyn appeared at the hospital with Phil. She quoted her predecessor Sir William Deane who said, ‘In times of national tragedy, we are impressed by the willingness of ordinary Australians to stretch out the hand of assistance and comfort. That spirit of generosity is the great healing force of our nation.’
Her Excellency went on to say: ‘Reaching out to those who are terribly distressed by what has happened, who are still trying to cope with this. We need to offer everyone comfort to get through this, to celebrate our strong and stable system of government and parliaments and democracy and be proud of that. Remind ourselves, as Helen says all the time, that Australians have good hearts, great hearts, and checking each of ourselves to ensure that we are, in fact, disagreeing well, not fighting with one another, not descending into violence and chaos and division. Most importantly, that we learn or relearn to exercise our muscle of decency.’[1] That muscle of decency – the great healing force of our nation.
These sentiments of our national leaders are heartening for us all. For us Christians, these sentiments can be even more real and hope filled when they are complemented with prayer. We pray to our God for those things which presently seem unattainable – the healing of Helen, the healing of the community, and even healing and forgiveness for the wrongdoer. We profess our love for our God who loves us beyond all telling. Sustained by that love, we commit ourselves afresh to justice, reconciliation, peace, and healing in our broken world. In God’s love, we find hope in the midst of despair, we renew our commitment to justice and peace in the face of evil and division.
I love you, Lord, my strength.
I love you, O Lord, my strength,
O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
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.
I love you, Lord, my strength.
At the ecumenical service in the Holy Trinity Cathedral at Wangaratta, Helen’s friend and predecessor as the independent member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, said, ‘My ask, in closing, is that we don’t let violence win, that we ensure the legacy of this attack on Helen will be a stronger, more vibrant and effective democracy.’ For this we pray; to this we commit ourselves. We love you, Lord, our strength.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, Adjunct Professor of Thomas More Law School at ACU and Adjunct Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, is a former Rector of Newman College, University of Melbourne, and CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA). His latest books include Pope Francis: the Disruptive Pilgrims Guide (ATF Theology, 2025), and Equality, Reconciliation and Social Cohesion: The Inspiration of Sir William Deane (Connor Court, 2026).
[1] https://www.gg.gov.au/about-governor-general/media/governor-generals-press-conference-remarks
