THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT.
November 3, 2024.
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – B.
"There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:31
An English proverb says: “He that plants trees loves others
besides himself.” A Sicilian proverb adds: “Who loves God with all his heart,
lives happy and dies happy.”
According to the New Testament, the greatest commandment is
two-part: First, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
Second, love your neighbor as yourself.
Let's first leave aside today's readings and go to a
beautiful work of intellectual art, the Paulinian hymn of love. There, the
Apostle of the Gentiles sings in 1 Cor 13:1-13 14: "Though I command
languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than
a gong booming or a cymbal clashing..." And the Apostle ends his poetic
litany of love with this solemn proclamation: "As it is, these remain:
faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is
love." He states with deep assurance the supremacy of love, even above
faith and hope. From this proclamation comes the theme of our meditation: Love,
the greatest commandment. And assuredly, love is greater than everything.
The Creation is a work of love. The Redemption is a work of
love. The final judgment will be on the basis of love. Love, therefore, runs
throughout all the mysterious plan of God.
Salvation itself is the result of God's love, which rescues
people from sin and brings them into harmony with God. The cross is a symbol of
God's love, and Jesus' sacrifice is the supreme act of love. We could read in
Jn 3:16: "For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life." In response to such love, man can do no other way but to love God
and make it the primacy.
Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy, reminds the people of
Israel of the centrality, unicity, and primacy of God. “Hear, O Israel! The
Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take
to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.” For the Israelites, the
"Shema Israel" is more than a commandment. It is the heart of their
being. All their humanity, heart, soul, and strength are oriented to that. They
live to love God, that is, to obey him. Failing to do so makes them a sinful
generation. Love is central because love leads to obedience.
Asked by a Scribe in the Gospel, “Which is the first of all
the commandments?” Jesus, as a good Israelite, cannot answer otherwise but to
sing the "Shema Israel." The Lord, however, goes further. He teaches
us that genuine love should not be limited only to God. It is not enough to
have humanity fully immersed in God, we should learn also to be burning with
love for others. So the Lord adds: "The second is this: You shall love
your neighbor as yourself."
How could someone truthfully love God if he or she feels
nothing for his or her neighbor? St. John would say in his pastoral letter:
"If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar; for
anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom
he has not seen." 1 Jn 4:20 For a matter of fact, essentially, the ability
to love someone you can see is a prerequisite to loving God, whom you cannot
see. As much as love is a commandment, it is a relational fact that opens to
others and so to life. Love is not egocentric. It leads to the greatest
altruism. With love, we see others as our Alter Egos (another me) who deserve
as much as I could give to myself. And when you relate rightly to others, it
opens you to see deep in them the immutable image of God.
Our Founder, St. Luigi Orione, the Apostle of Charity (Love)
used to say: “The image of God shines in the most lowly of men. Whoever gives
to the poor, gives to God and will receive his reward from the hand of God.” As
to say, whoever loves the poor, his neighbor, loves God.
The Lord Jesus’ sacrifice of the Cross, because it was a
sacrifice of love needs no repetition. Love is given one’s forever and it is
ever new. As Christians, we should imitate such love. That is to love until the
end without counting the cost.
The application of these words in today’s realities could
take many forms. Do you love God? Then love, serve, and give yourself to your
neighbor, your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, your friends,
your colleagues. Do not search for something abstract. Live love in the
concrete: words, actions, care… most particularly care for nature, for the
environment. If you love yourself, you will care for the place where you live and
keep it clean, sound, and worthy of God who lives in you and who lives there
with you. May our love also take an ecological form.
Comments
Post a Comment