GREATEST COMMANDMENTS

Matthew 22:37-40

"You shall love the Lord, your God… You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Yes, we go to mass or Sunday service. Yes, we pray the rosary and sing worship songs. Yes, we praise and glorify the Lord through prayers. Yes, we read the Bible and even memorize verses out of it. We do all of these for the glory of God. Then what? We curse that first beggar that would approach us as soon as we leave the church. We would tell green jokes because people would laugh more. We would have secret dealings, praying that we get more money out of it. We would hurt our loved ones because we don’t like them anymore. We do all of these for the glory of our own selves!

In today’s gospel, Jesus is very clear in His commandment. First is love the Lord, your God. And the second “IS LIKE IT” – love your neighbor as yourself. We all love ourselves… every one of us. This isn’t something that we need to work at. It comes naturally. When we are hungry, we feed ourselves, because we love ourselves. When we are cold, we warm ourselves, because we love ourselves. Similarly, if we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves, then we will do the same for them. We will look out for their needs – feed them when they are hungry; clothe them when they are cold. I know that we can’t always meet everyone’s needs, just as we cannot always meet our own needs. But we should demonstrate the same commitment to meeting the needs of others as we do for ourselves.

A person who genuinely loves God also loves his fellows because he realizes that they are his brothers and sisters, children of the same Father, redeemed by the same blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Self-love of the right kind, based on God's love for man, necessarily involves forgetting oneself in order to love God and our neighbor for God. Christian life is not about being perfect. It is about perfecting our love for God and others through our Savior.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, teach us to love You with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. And teach us to love the people around us… as much as we love ourselves. You expect both from all of us, no more, no less.

Amen +

I love You, Lord, my strength.