“Love One Another”
Jesus was asked by the Pharisees, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus answers by referring to Shema Israel (Deuteronomy 6:5) [Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.] and the complimentary Law (Leviticus 19:18) [Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself] in which every Jew is expected to recite prayer to profess their faith. Jesus combined and identified the two as the true essence of religion that can not be separated because they are complimentary to each other.
Those who follow Jesus know this, as His words are on their lips, prayed daily, and are exemplified in how they live their lives.
How do we love God?
There are many ways by which we can express our love for God:
By thanking God daily for His blessings and expressing our gratitude by obeying His Commandments.
By reconciling with God daily, confessing our sins, and asking His forgiveness.
By acknowledging our total dependence on God, presenting our needs before Him with trusting Faith.
By maintaining friendship with God, talking daily to Him in prayer and listening to Him in reading the Bible.
By recharging our spiritual batteries through participating in Sunday Mass, receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, and through leading a Sacramental life.
How do we love our neighbour?
Since every human being is a child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, created in the image and likeness of God and saved by the precious Blood of Christ, we express our love of God by loving our neighbour as Jesus loves him, and by loving Jesus in our neighbour. This means we need to help, support, encourage, forgive, and pray for every one of God’s children without discrimination based on color, race, creed, gender, age wealth or social status.
Jesus invites us to love God and our brothers and sisters with all our hearts and mind, without any boundaries or hesitation.
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam! For the greater glory of God!
Fr. Rowel Jose (Arjay) Abanto
