Praying the Communion Antiphon: Friday Third Week of Lent

 

Praying the Communion Antiphon Series.

Praying the Communion Antiphon

A Time Set Apart:  Friday Third Week of Lent

Love at the Heart

Communion Antiphon (Mark 12:33)
To love God with all your heart, and with all your understanding and strength,
and to love your neighbour as yourself
is far more than any burnt offering or sacrifice.

 

Thinking About the Words

This line comes from the conversation between Jesus and the scribe who asks:

“Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus responds with what we often call the great commandment:

Love God with your whole being,
and love your neighbour as yourself.

The scribe recognises something profound.

He says that this love is greater than burnt offerings and sacrifices.

In the Old Testament, sacrifices were central to worship. They expressed devotion and repentance before God.

But here something deeper is revealed.

God does not desire ritual alone.

He desires a heart shaped by love.

To love God completely and to love our neighbour sincerely — this is the true fulfilment of worship.

 

A Lenten Insight

Lent often includes practices like prayer, fasting, and sacrifice.

These are valuable. Today’s antiphon gently reminds us that the goal of these practices is love. If sacrifice does not deepen love for God and neighbour, something essential is missing.

 

At Communion

This antiphon is prayed as we receive the Eucharist.

Christ gives Himself completely in love.

And in receiving Him, we are drawn into that same movement:

• love of God
• love of neighbour

The Eucharist becomes the living expression of the commandment Jesus speaks about.

 

Reflection

• Do my Lenten practices lead me toward greater love?
• How do I show love for God in my daily life?
• How might I express love toward my neighbour today?
• Where might God be inviting me to grow in generosity of heart?

This antiphon gathers together many of the threads we have been seeing through Lent:

• walking the path of life
• keeping God’s precepts
• having a firm heart

All of it leads to this:

Love.

Because love is the deepest expression of the life God calls us to live.

 

Prayer

Lord,
teach me to love you with all my heart,
and to love those around me as you love them.

 

TAKING THIS FURTHER

Jesus says “love your neighbour as yourself,” then understanding self-love practically becomes essential.

Let’s try to make it very concrete.

 

A Practical Understanding of Loving Yourself

A simple working definition might be:

Self-love is caring for the person God created me to be so that I can live truthfully before Him and serve others well. We can ask ourselves what I treat others as I treat myself.  If the answer is no, then  some healthy self love may be an area to grow.

It is not indulgence.
It is stewardship of the life God has given.

You might think of it as treating yourself as someone entrusted to your care by God.

 

Practical Ways to Love Ourselves (Especially in Lent)

1. Telling the Truth About Ourselves

Healthy self-love begins with honesty.

This means:

• acknowledging our gifts
• recognising our weaknesses
• admitting our sins without despair

Lent invites this through examination of conscience and repentance.

Truthful self-knowledge is actually an act of love.

 

2. Receiving God’s Mercy

One of the most important ways to love ourselves is to accept forgiveness.

Sometimes people confess sin but continue punishing themselves internally.

True self-love allows us to say:

God has forgiven me — I will walk forward in that mercy.

This is why reconciliation is so central in Lent.

 

3. Caring for the Body God Gave Us

The body is not separate from spiritual life.

Healthy self-love includes:

• proper rest
• nourishment
• reasonable balance

Even fasting in Lent is not meant to harm us but to order our desires. The church provides the way by showing us what balance is during Lent. Sundays in Lent are not fast days. We covered 4 of those Sundays from Ash Wednesday-Saturday after Ash Wednesday. Of course it does not mean going overboard and undoing the good work God has graced us with during Lent. It is still a time set apart.

 

4. Protecting the Heart

Self-love also means guarding what shapes our inner life.

This includes:

• what we dwell on
• what we listen to
• what influences our thoughts

Lent often invites us to simplify so that our hearts become clearer.

For example: we may be watching TV and the actors use and abuse the name of Jesus in the show.  We do not know what the script is going to say ahead of time obviously.  However, we have a choice to either turn the programme off and write to the producers to encourage them to be mindful of our Christian viewers who find it offensive to use God’s name in vain.  We can continue to watch the programme but make the choice to do some penance for those actors and producers asking God to enlighten their minds and hearts.  The danger of watching programmes that continually abuse God’s name is that we get used to it ourselves. It dulls our spiritual lens and we may even find ourselves using God’s name in an abusive way as well.  So what we listen to has a huge impact on our spiritual and emotional life.

5. Giving Ourselves Time with God

One of the deepest forms of self-love is making space for prayer.

Not because God needs it, but because we do.

Silence, Scripture, and reflection nourish the soul.

 

6. Allowing Ourselves to Grow

Healthy self-love allows change.

It says:

• I am not finished yet
• God is still forming me
• I can grow

Lent is a season of growth, not condemnation. We may not have had the opportunity to learn a healthy self love from our parents or family but with God as our teacher and our willingness we can learn it.

 

The Balance

So the commandment forms a beautiful triangle:

Love God
Love your neighbour
Love yourself as God’s creation

When one side collapses, the others struggle.

But when all three are in harmony, the heart becomes whole.

To love ourselves therefore is to care for the life God has entrusted to us — seeking truth, accepting mercy, nurturing the body and soul, and allowing God to continue shaping us.

There is something lovely about this appearing in the Communion Antiphon.

At Communion we receive Christ, who shows us perfectly:

• how to love the Father
• how to love others
• and how to live fully as the person we are created to be.