Gospel: Mark 12:28-34
The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to
him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no
other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your
understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is
worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Loving God means desiring to know Him more deeply each day. Because of this, we must continually thirst and hunger for Him. Our hearts should long for His presence, and one of the most meaningful ways we encounter Him is through the Holy Mass. When we gather in worship, we do not merely fulfill an obligation; we open our hearts to experience His living presence among us.
We also grow in our love for God when we read and reflect on the Bible and remain faithful to its teachings. When we meditate on the first four Gospels of the New Testament—Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John—we begin to see more clearly the life, mission, and love of Jesus Christ.
Through these sacred stories, we come to appreciate more deeply who He is and what He has done for us. Yet loving God does not end with learning His teachings; it must also be seen in the way we live them each day.
When we sincerely express our love for God, another commandment naturally follows: we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. But what does this love truly mean for us? Is our love for our neighbor selective, or is it truly inclusive and all-embracing?
True love for our neighbor cannot be selective. It must be an encompassing love that reaches out to everyone, regardless of who they are or what they may have done to us. We are called to love our neighbor whoever that neighbor may be and whatever offense our neighbor may have committed against us.
Yet if we are honest with ourselves, we sometimes fall short in this area. We tend to choose only the neighbors we want to love. We easily love those who show kindness and affection to us, but those who hurt us or fail to love us are often the very people we struggle to accept.
But the love that God teaches us invites us to go beyond our comfort. It calls us to transform our hearts so that we may learn to love even those who do not love us. This kind of love reflects the very heart of God—a love that is patient, forgiving, and unconditional.
As we continue our journey of faith, may we ask the Lord to deepen our love for Him so that His love may overflow into the way we treat others.
And so we ask ourselves today: If we truly claim to love God, are we also willing to love every neighbor He places in our path—even those who find it difficult to love us?— Marino J. Dasmarinas
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