Do you really know and understand what love means? We use the word “love” so often, but how many of us really love? In life, our love is often divided. We have our family and relatives, our friends, our colleagues, our church members. But how much do we really love these? Do we love these more than God or vice versa? To add to the equation, do we love others who are not in this circle: such as our competitors, those who are angry with us, our enemies, those who are strangers to us, those who we think are unlovable? It seems quite an uphill task to truly and genuinely love, since it seems easier to love those around us whom we know or trust. But as Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ, members of God’s family, how do we love; how should we love?
In the first reading, the Lord said to Moses to tell the sons of Israel: “You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt. You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them, they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry; my anger will flare and I shall kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own children orphans. If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from him. If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset.” Here, the Israelites were being reminded that loving God and people of their own kind is not enough. They are also reminded to love all others, just as God had loved all. Moreover, the Israelites were reminded to love with right conduct and right action.
Likewise, the Gospel reminds us: “You must 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 resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.” When we are willing to love God totally, then our love for all others should also flow from our total love for God. We cannot possibly love without God’s help, since our love is often incomplete. This is why couples getting and staying married are often encouraged and reminded to have God in their lives, so that their love for each other and for others draws strength and dependence on God’s love.
Love is not just a feeling, it is a commitment. In a world where commitment and responsibility towards others is being compromised in different ways, we as Christians need to learn to give our all to God, and by letting God be in control, we can then share His love with all others. When we love God totally, then we will begin thinking of the needs of the others and the needs of the community before thinking of our own needs. Let our love for God be total and complete, and let Him guide us in all we say and do.