The Essentials

There wa a story in the news about a woman trappd in a car for over a week before being found.

How could she survive? Only one way: by having air and water: the bare essentials for sustaining life.

In today's Gospel we hear a wise man proclaim the essentials of religion to an approving Jesus. "God is one!"...this was an essential Jewish belief which set them apart from their pagan neighbors who worshipped a multitude of deities.

And then Love of God and neighbor.

All else amounts to the trappings of religion: various devotions, reigious costumes, elaborate prayers are just the trimmings!

And so we pray:

O God help us to get down to the essentials.

Love of God,

and love of neigbor.

All else is at the edges.

And so we pray:

Help us to grasp the heart of the matter.

And as we prepare to vote,

grant us the wisdom to select

those who are concerned by the plight of their neigbors,

rather than those who would seprate us from neighbors

by leading us down a path of fear and prejudice.

Amen