Most Christians can rattle off the answer to the question, “what is the greatest commandment?” That is to love God and love neighbor.
Or specifically, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk 12: 29-31).
As a Christian though, if we are honest; this is not easy. It is just too easy to be distracted, self-absorbed and selfish.
Yet, if the Lord as commanded it then He will give the grace to accomplish it.
Love has been given. Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “The commandment of love is only possible because it is more than a requirement. Love can be commanded because it has first been given” (Deus Caritas Est, 14). We can give it because we have received it.
Love must be received. For a gift to be gift, it must be given, and it must be received. If we received God’s love it will transform us. Once we are transformed and truly know ourselves as loved by God, we will then experience the uncontainable desire to tell others of the love of God.
Love makes us what we are. Pope Benedict would go on, “Love is ‘divine’ because it comes from God and unites us to God, through this unifying process it makes us ‘we’ which transcends our divisions and makes us one” (Deus Caritas Est, 18). Truly our existence is only found in the Lord.
We love because love is a part of our identity. Love is what identifies us, it is our calling card, our nametag, our team jersey that others can see to know who we are. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35).
Love is an action. Love is not an emotion, something to be suffered, like thirst or hunger. Love is also not simply a thought to be discussed our spoken about. Love is a service to be given to God and others.
Love is never finished. Loving God and others is a process, always open-ended. Every parent knows that there is never a time in which you can say, ‘I have loved enough no more to give.’
Sometimes I wish Kanas had hilltops, because this is what we need to scream off the top of them. In today’s climate of uncertainty, fear, and division; we must love with the supernatural love we have received. Love is not merely a duty but a life changing power.