NO TRICKS WITH JESUS

Lots of things that sound easy are really hard. If you want to use your PlayStation 2 or Gameboy, for instance, you can't just turn it on and play. You have to learn how to put in the game the right way, what the rules of the game are and how to play it.

Some of the things Jesus taught are like using a Gameboy: They sound easy, but they take practice and patience! This week's Gospel is like that. When Jesus was asked which of God's teachings was most important, He told everyone to love God and each other as much as they loved themselves. That takes a lot of effort!

After you've used your PlayStation for a while, you probably know a few tricks for how to get a good score or how to get around things in your way. It gets a lot easier for you to win.

Learning to live the way Jesus taught us isn't so easy. There's no way to get around having to be good, and no way to treat people badly and still make Jesus proud of you. Jesus didn't want us to learn tricks like a kid with a Gameboy; He wanted us to try as hard as we can to be loving people.

That means being fair even when someone isn't fair to you. It means being the first person to end an argument, even when you still feel angry. Loving people no matter what is the way to get a "high score" with Jesus -- and He's not playing games! (10-24-02) [[In-content Ad]]