Gospel: Matthew
22:34-40
When the
Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
and one of them, a scholar of the law
tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the
greatest?" He said to him, "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. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two
commandments."
+ + + + +
+ +
Reflection:
How deep
is God’s love for us? We will never know because God’s love for us is
infinite. As a testament of God’s infinite love He even gave His only begotten
son so that we could be freed from the curse of original sin.
How deep
is our love for God? Is it enough to express our love for God by fulfilling our
Sunday obligation? Certainly not for God requires that our love for Him should
translate to our love for our neighbor. Therefore if we say we love God we also should learn to love our neighbor no matter how unlovable this neighbor.
Who is our neighbor? Our neighbor could be a relative, a friend, a literal neighbor or a
complete stranger who needs our help. The big question here is what if this
neighbor is unlovable or what if this neighbor is not good to us? Should we
still give our love to this neighbor?
Yes of
course for we cannot separate our love for God with our love for our neighbor.
If we say that we love God yet we don’t love our neighbor because they are not
good to us, then how could this love of God that we profess be true?
Therefore
to love God is to unconditionally love our neighbor no matter if this
neighbor has deeply hurt us. To love God is to forgive a spouse who is
asking for a second chance, to love God is to forgive a friend who betrayed us and to love God is to help a stranger in need.
Do we truly love God? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
No comments:
Post a Comment