See clearly with Jesus: Homily for Thursday, June 12, 2025

Time and again Jesus reminds us of the power of our relationship with God, which enables us to love others. When we lose sight of Jesus, it is as if a veil is placed over our face so that we cannot see clearly. Readings for Today.

See clearly with Jesus

There can be times in life that are very difficult. A loved one can die. Maybe we discover we have some kind of terminal illness. Maybe we’re in a situation where we really don’t know what to do. There can be times where it appears in our life that we’re lost. We don’t know where we’re going, or what’s going to provide meaning in our life.

It can be during those times like we have a veil over our faces. The challenge, of course, in our lives is to recognize that God, the Lord Jesus, gives us a way to remove the veil and to see clearly. But this is not as easy as it appears, because sometimes when the veil is removed, the terminal illness is still there. We might still feel lost. We might find the difficult situation that we’re in still difficult.

The veil is not really about solutions, but the solution. The Lord Jesus himself. And what is it that Jesus does? He always calls us to recognize how important our relationships are. Think about what he says in the gospel today when he’s talking about the Jewish law and how the Pharisees interpret it. He’s pointing out to them that, yes, it’s true, they keep many of the small commands of the law, but they miss the two great commandments, loving God and loving neighbor.

That sometimes the law does not tell the whole story. Law is important. The Torah gave the Jewish people their sense of identity and purpose and direction. But there were times where Jesus points out, you have to understand the power of human relationship. You have to understand the power of your relationship with God.

This image of settling with the opponent on the way to court is not about civil proceedings. It’s about salvation. We should settle with God, so to speak, by seeking his forgiveness, by entering into conversion, by finding the solution that really heals us. Because if we don’t, we won’t be saved. We’ll be handed over. We’ll be sent to prison.

The power of relationship is critical, and how often does Jesus really come back to this theme? We need right relationship with God. The first and the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we have, not a little, not by hedging our bets and saying, “Well, I’ll love God here, but I’ll trust my own efforts over here,” but to be all in, so to speak.

But even more than that, that love of God is deemed authentic when it shows itself in love for our neighbor, in love for everybody else in the world. And we’re moved by the power of that love. We understand in our lives that sometimes, even though the rule says this, loving our neighbor means this thing. Today, we are called to love God and love neighbor. Let us pray that we might receive the grace of God in our hearts so that we might do just that today.

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