A teacher of the law [pharisee] asked Jesus about the greatest of all commandments.
Jesus reminds him the Shema Israel [in Hebrew means: hear O Israel], ‘Love your God
with all your heart, mind and strength’, that Jewish people pray twice a day. Jesus
added, love of neighbor to love of God; love of God and love of neighbor are like two
sides of the same coin; one cannot be separated from the other! Love is not a rule; it is
way of being. Love of God is like a child awakens to its mother’s presence and voice.
Loving God is a response to a knowing, like you know your mother/father loves you!
Love is experienced as presence/relationship. Everything is created out of God’s love
and that makes love the foundation of the world, its energy to exist. Love is the power
in us to relate to God, others and creation, going beyond narrow goals to enrich the
beauty that is already in creation, because God saw it was good; love is continuous
discovery of this goodness God infused in us!
Pope Francis in his encyclical ‘Fratelli tutti’ speaks of ‘human family’s innate vocation
to fraternity’. This makes everyone our neighbor. The problem with the pharisees’
thinking was that they were ignorant, not enlightened [as Paul says in Romans] to know
the nature of God’s love, that God is Father of the prodigal son who awaits the return of
the wayward son; he is good shepherd that goes after the lost sheep. Pharisees
condemned the tax collectors and sinners while Jesus saw in them the neighbor to be
loved, forgiven and healed. Commandment to love has been reduced to a transactional
enterprise: I love what benefits me and forget love is transforming and it is to be Christlike.
Christian action is motivated by Christ like love, seeking fairness and harmony in
everything, what helps to go against our basic instincts to keep grudge, take revenge
and move the heart to welcome back and reconcile. So it is said the twin children of
love are justice and compassion. There are many contradictions and unjust systems in
the world. How do we love those who betray our trust, who seek our downfall? Love is
giving goodness with which we are created, like a tree that keeps giving its fruits to
gladden hearts. Love gives the enemy a chance to redeem oneself; love creates good
out of chaos!
Pain, grief and suffering are companions of love; they often force us to doubt God’s
love and discourage us to love others in freedom. It is reported that during this
pandemic many experience loneliness, hopelessness, depression, especially young
people, even taking their own lives. Story of Devil’s clearance sale: ‘the devil decided to
close up shop in one part of the world and open up in another. A ‘going out of
business’ sale was announced. One of the first customers, being quite fascinated with
the various evil instruments on display, noticed that of all the devil’s tools, the highest
priced one was called ‘discouragement’. Why is that one so expensive?, the man
asked. quite simple, replied the devil. It is my favorite. With the tool of discouragement
I can pry into almost everyone’s life and cause all kinds of damage’! To know God’s
love is to have a healthy self-love, to know life’s worth, purpose, meaning and goal.
Great love involves great suffering, so encourage each other as neighbors to let flow
the creative force of love in our hearts like a river; do not hold its flow from anyone!
Love is the measure with which we examine personal life and the ways of the world.
1John 3:14: ‘who does not love abides in death’; where there is love, there is God, for
God is love!