Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
When one of the Scribes approached Jesus and asked him which was the greatest of all the commandments, we should presume that it was not a trick question but one that came from sincere inquiry. There were 613 Mitzot or commandments in the Jewish law. This may sound like a lot, but considering just how many laws deal with driving cars today, this number dealing with behaving in society is not that great. But prioritization does help focus, so the question about which commandment is the greatest does help organize the many laws which governed the society of Jesus’s time.
Jesus identifies God as the primary focus of our lives. Ignatius of Loyola, too, based his Spiritual Exercises on this idea in his “First Principle and Foundation.” For Ignatius, establishing a relationship with God and God’s plan puts things in proper order. Thus, we can summarize Ignatius’s project in life as coming to know God and to recognize how God acts in the world and to gain the skills necessary to promote this Divine Will.