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1. Ex22: 20-26
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2. 1Thes
1:5e-10
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Gospel: Matt
22: 34-40
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" To love God, is to love our neighbors."
There is an immortal
poem written by English Leigh Hunt about a man called Abou Ben Adhem. Abou Ben
Adhem woke from his sleep one night and saw in his room and angel writing in a
book of gold the names of those who love God. " And where is my name?"
Inquired Abou. " It is not here," replied the Angel. " I pray
thee then, said Abou, " write me as one who loves his fellow men."
The following night the angel came again and displayed the names of those who
love God and Abou Ben Adhem's name topped the list. This poem makes the point
that true love of God and true love of our fellow human beings are like two
sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. The central message
of today's gospel about the two great commandments of love given by God to His
people and is summarized by Jesus. These two shall never be separated from each
other because they two realities of the same coin.
In our days we have
found ourselves making abuse use of the word called ' love', sad to say we
misinterpreted it. Because of love, many of our young ladies have become unwed
mothers. Some got suicide because of love. Many of us confuse romantic love and
the love of God we have heard in today's gospel. The love of God is beyond
romantic love. Romantic love is love that is based on emotions and feelings,
while the love of God demands no interests, and demands no reciprocity i.e, I
love and give something to somebody, and
expect on return to be given the equivalent or more, this is not the love of
God we learn from our readings.
Actually, there are 613
commandments and of which 365 prohibitions and 248 other prescriptions. That's
why the lawyer asked Jesus which of these 613 commandments is the greatest.
Jesus summarizes these into two: Love your God which can be found in the book
of Deuteronomy 6:5 and love of your neighbor which can be found in the book of
Leviticus 19:18 and 19:34.
By the phrase,
"and the second is like this," it means that all good works have
value both as acts of love of God and as acts of love of neighbor. This means
that they are not separated from each other. We can no longer speak of the one
over the other. That there is a close connection between what we do to our
neighbor whom we see and what we do to God whom we cannot see.
What does it mean to
love God? It means to give my total person to Him that includes my emotions, my
consciousness, my instincts, my intellect, will and my body. But what is
happening, it's a 50-50 deal for the reasons that we have so many concerns and
attachments. Christ is not our priority. He is just secondary. Anyway, my death
will not come soon. I just come to Him when I'm in need or in trouble or when I
have difficulties and problems. In this sense, Jesus is like an Automated
Teller Machine ( ATM), we come to Him when we are out of stock of wants and
needs. Afterwards, when everything is fine, no more Jesus Christ. I don't need
Him anymore in my life.
How and in what way can
we love our God whom we don't see? It is through our neighbors. Thus, when a
Christian serves the poor in the name of Christ, it is actually Christ our God,
in and
through us, who
continues to touch and console the poor.
Another one is, when the community of the Church, the people who believe in
Jesus Christ as Lord and God, gathers for the celebration of the Eucharist, it
is actually Jesus in His Spirit-filled community who offers Himself to the
Father. To summarize it, we are the perfect sacrament of love of Jesus Christ.
However, the question
who are my neighbors still continues.
Who are they? Is it the house near to my house? May be, but those who people who
are in need of our material, emotional and spiritual helps. They are in need of
our concern, care, love and compassion and this is a concrete manifestation of
our love for God. It is through our neighbors whom we see. The good example for
this is Mother Theresa of Calcutta, she expressed her love for God by serving
the poorest of the poor and the most abandoned people in the society that she
was in.
Thus the love of God
and love of neighbor are identical twins I would say. They could not be
separated and one could not exist without the other. Whether we like it or not,
we have to accept the two as part of our lives. Can we do this?
The love of God and
love of neighbor is symbolized by the two beams of the cross. It is our call to
balance the vertical dimension relationship with God in prayer and sacrifices
with the horizontal dimension of our relationship with others in mutual and
loving service. So if we take away the vertical dimension or detach either
beam, you will obtain neither love of God nor love of neighbor, there is no
sign of the cross and we are not true Christian Catholics.
Prayer: God, our heavenly Father, instill in my
heart this Great Commandment, so that I can follow more closely in the
footsteps of your Son, our Lord. Mary, my beloved Mother, show me the way to
love God and my neighbor.
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