The Great Commandment

In the light of todays Gospel, I remember a reflection on the Cross of Christ focussed on the vertical beam and the horizontal beam. Christ sacrificed his life out of love and obedience to his Father symbolized by the vertical beam and his outstretched arms for the love of humanity and the world symbolized by the horizontal beam.

His life and death gave witness to the greatest commandment he reminds us of today in the Gospel taken from Matthew 22:34-40. To love God with our whole heart, soul and mind, the vertical dimension and to love our neighbour as ourselves, the horizontal dimension. The full expression of Christian love is pictured in the cross, where the vertical supports and empowers the horizontal.

For Jesus, these two commandments summarise the Law and the Prophets. They are not separate obligations but two dimensions of one life of faith.

What does it mean to love God completely? Loving God with all our heart means giving him first place in our lives. To love God completely means allowing him to shape our priorities and choices. Loving God with our soul means placing our entire life at his disposal. Loving God with our mind means seeking to understand his Word, examining our attitudes and allowing the Gospel to challenge our prejudices. We fall short most of the time. Ultimately we rely on God's grace to express such love and we need to keep asking for it.

And when it comes to the horizontal dimension of love, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” it includes the poor, the vulnerable, those who are different from us and even those with whom we disagree.  Loving our neighbour is not merely about being kind to people; it also means refusing to contribute to what harms them. The real test of our love for God is how we treat one another. We can ponder these questions. Does God truly occupy the centre of my life? Does my love for him make me more compassionate, just and respectful towards others?

The song I have chosen for you this week is, 'There is no distance,' from the album of the same name.

Blessings on your week