On this Sunday, the scriptures present a summary of the commandments. Jesus tells us that the greatest of the commandments is ‘You must love the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Love is at the heart of who we are and what we are called to do and be.

Why is it so important to love God and our neighbors? Love always expresses itself in relationships. It is meant to be shared and given. We are all loved by God unconditionally. It is in our relationship with God that we find the model for love. We are created in the image and likeness of God.  Our love for God is found in the way we love our neighbors. Therefore, we are all connected through God’s love. Jesus often asks us, “Can we love God whom we cannot see and not love our brothers and sisters whom we do see?

Sometimes, we see in our brothers and sisters a reflection of ourselves. In many cases, we see our “growing edges” or our faults. We sometimes see our past experiences when we were not the best image of our true selves.  No matter what we see, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is the challenge. We sometimes don’t love ourselves enough to love and to know that we are loveable.

If Christianity was simply a religion where we are called only to love God it would make it easy for some people. In Christianity, while we are called to be in a relationship with God, we are to be concerned about our neighbors. I heard someone say that “Love is to will the good of the other.”  As we become more concerned about others, we often begin to be concerned about ourselves as well. A proverb says, “You can’t pour from an empty cup. We must be aware of our own self-care needs.” In this way, our love for God, self, and others will grow more intense.