On one occasion a teacher
of the law approached Jesus to ask him about the most important commandment, to
which Jesus replied: “You shall love the Lord, your
God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mt
22: 37-39).
In this Sunday's Gospel (Mt 10: 37-42) Jesus places great emphasis on love for God, after all it is the first of the commandments. To show this special aspect of the love of God, Jesus contrasts two legitimate loves: love for family and love for himself. Jesus does not intend to eliminate legitimate love from people's lives, He himself has given his life for love of us, and has also asked us to love one another as He has loved us. The intention of Jesus in today's gospel is to help us put our loves in order, to organize ourselves by internally regarding love.
Love for God must be the origin of all legitimate love, it is this love that naturally leads us to want to love and be loved. Everything we do honestly, in the name of love for God and that moves according to God's will is transformed into works of love that will bear fruit in due time. The best way to show that we love God is by loving those around us, our neighbor, just as Christ has taught us. And the best way to love those around us is to offer them the truth that we have discovered in Christ, even if our lives are lost in this. A true love takes us away from error and lies, and brings us closer to the truth: God.
How many things can be said about love? Surely many other things can be said about love. For believers the true and greatest love has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. He has told us and has done everything that true love is.
Fr. Carlos Flores, OSA
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