by Fr. Tommy Lane
Jesus sums up the Old Testament as loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus’ summary was in answer to the Pharisees’ question about the greatest commandment in the Old Testament. But it is natural to respond positively to those who are positive to us. It is natural to be kind to people who are kind. It is natural to help people who are likeable. We don’t need to be commanded to love such people. So why does Jesus give loving God and neighbor as the answer to a question about a commandment? I think we discover why in his Sermon on the Mount: “if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?” (Matt 5:46-47) When everything is going fine, it is easy to be grateful to God; when people are nice to us, it is easy to be nice back to them.
So then, why is loving God and loving others a commandment? Because there are times when everything is not going well, and on those occasions we need a reminder, or commandment, telling us to love God and others. When pain and suffering come, we may be tempted to abandon God. But when we continue to love God during those difficult times, then our love of God is all the stronger. Again Jesus’ words from his Sermon on the Mount: “if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?” (Matt 5:46-47) Loving God during difficult times shows our love for God.
Jesus said to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. One way of loving God with our heart is to pray with our heart as well as saying prayers. Jesus said, “when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.” (Matt 6:6-7) Pray with the heart by having a conversation with God. We can begin our prayer by acknowledging God’s love for us. Remembering all of Jesus’ passion from Gethsemane to his death on Calvary reminds us of his love for us and helps us to pray with the heart, to pray with meaning, not just reciting words like a parrot. Our prayer should be an encounter with God. Pray with the heart so that prayer is an encounter with God.
Jesus said to love God with all our soul. Coming to Mass to love and worship God instead of just fulfilling an obligation is loving God with our soul. Avoiding sin because sin is evil and damages our relationship with God is loving God with our soul instead avoiding sin because we are afraid of suffering in the next life. If fear is motivating us, that is not love. Move from fear to loving God with your soul.
Jesus said to love God with all our mind. There are many distractions competing for the attention of our mind: TV, internet, social media. What are your thoughts? It is nice to go for a walk in a pleasant garden or park. Is your mind like a pleasant garden where God would be happy to walk? Can you work on your mind so that it will be like a pleasant garden where God would be happy to walk, and you can love God with all your mind?
When everything is going fine, it is easy to be grateful to God but loving God during difficult times shows our love for God. It is the same with loving our neighbor. When our neighbor is a difficult person and it is challenging to be kind to such a person, it is good to have a reminder or, to use the language of the Gospel today, a commandment, telling us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Otherwise we would go down a spiral of negativity and hate and end up like the Middle East. Loving our neighbor is challenging when our neighbor doesn’t respond with kindness to our kindness but continues in negativity. Our neighbor may be a very hurt person and acting out of some hurt and so it is the hurt in our neighbor that we are encountering. It is challenging to continue loving our neighbor when all we receive is negativity but who wants to end up like the Middle East. Not wanting to end up like the Middle East is at the lower end of what should motivate us to love our difficult neighbor. In a parable Jesus said, “what you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matt 25:40) That is what motivates us to be kind to others when it is difficult, motivates us when the image of God in our difficult neighbor is suffering because of something in his or her past, motivates us when the image of God is not shining out clearly from our difficult neighbor. During those times it is good to remember the words of Jesus: “what you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matt 25:40)
Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and the second is like it, to love our neighbor as ourselves.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2023
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
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Loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves 2020
Loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves
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