SUNDAY REFLECTION by Mayor Beng Climaco

 30th Sunday: Jesus’ law of Love of God, neighbor and self! 

Matthew 22:34-40

 

“YOU SHALL love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first commandment and the most important of all the commandments. The second is: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Triple commandments of love. This has its origin from the Shema Yisrael, the Jewish prayer found in the Torah as recited daily.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength! Today’s Gospel teaches us that love needs to have a higher value of loving God by loving our neighbor. Who are our neighbors? The parable of the good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37 shows the help given to a stranger and not necessarily an ally, a kapamilya nor a kakilala but “others”! 

In life we can be caught with our self-absorption. Our actions revolve around our own self, el diatun mismo cuerpo. But, Jesus leads the way to transcend outwardly to divine love and that of others. This gives meaning to life. Where does, I love Zamboanga fit in? It is in living out God’s call for me to serve the people. Put the need of others ahead of the self.

One evening, I had an urgent call from a father. His son was positive with Covid. They are from Tawi-Tawi. As a high school teacher, I remember visiting him when he was sick. Today, he is now a father and I was struck by his great love for his son and sought medical help.

Early on in the pandemic, I learned that LIFE is precious. That’s why I avoid the temptation of looking at figures, instead, I look at people in every Covid positive case because every life matters. With 19 more months to go in my timeline, gone are the legacy big bulk projects. The pandemic dictates that love for God, means loving people even our neighbors. Appropriating resources that would fight the Pandemic by; lengthening life of Senior Citizens through our Largo Vida Program, livelihood support by Ayuda La Vida Program since 46,000 people’s livelihood are affected. All of these are in our proposed budget for 2021.

By following Jesus who fed the hungry 45 million Filipinos of which 15 million Filipino Children are hungry based on latest social weather station survey, so we provide nutritious food through our proposed Cuida Vida program.

In this pandemic, we experience disasters such as flood and landslides so we proposed the Salva Vida foodpack and hygiene kits that are needed ⁃ with Climate change, from dry spell or El Niño to the incessant rains of La Niña, our farmers lost around more than 3 million from the crops they planted with toil and hardwork. We want to help their wives and children through our proposed livelihood intervention - the Siembra Vida program.

We look at the problems from the pandemic and with God’s limitless bountiful love respond by contributing to people’s lives. El vida bien precioso so let us contribute. I end with the responsorial psalm: I LOVE YOU LORD MY STRENGTH!

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