“YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD, YOUR GOD, ...”

“YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD, YOUR GOD, ...”

Once again Jesus is put to the test. First there were the Sadducees and then the Pharisees. From among this last group, one of them, a Doctor of the Law, comes forward to ask Jesus about the most important commandment of the law (Mt 22, 43-40). Of course, that Doctor of the law should know the answer, he just looks for an occasion to have something to accuse Jesus of.

Jesus correctly answers the most important commandment: “love God above all things.” But in Jesus there is always something new. Although Jesus has been asked about only one commandment, Jesus is quick to mention a second commandment, because one cannot be understood without the other. This second commandment is about loving your neighbor as yourself.

This lesson that Jesus presents to the Pharisees is also a lesson learned by his disciples. If we are willing to follow Christ, we should allow ourselves to be instructed by Him. That is why we can see how the apostle Saint John transmits the same lesson about love that He heard and saw in Christ. Let's see: “If anyone says, << I love God,>> but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 Jn 4, 20-21)

Loving one's neighbor is also being willing to love and serve the stranger, the one who is different from me, this is how the first reading expresses it to us (Ex 22, 20-26). Love is serving every human being from our charity and solidarity, in complete humility, seeking the greatest possible good for everyone who may need us.

Let us strive to make the invitation to love that we receive from God a reality in our lives, just as he asks us: “loving my neighbor as myself.” By loving as Christ teaches us, we will fulfill not only the law of God, but also our mission in life. Amen.

 

Fr. Carlos Flores, OSA