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“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” A mighty big order that Jesus repeats in the Gospel. Trouble is, what do we mean by love? Some people, e.g., say that love and law don't mix, or that love does away with all law. This kind of talk is confusing and misleading. So let's look at what Jesus our Lord says about love and law. In St. John's Gospel, Jesus tells us: "The one who obeys the commandments he has from me is the one who loves me." Loving Jesus, therefore, means keeping his commandments; and his commandments include the Ten Commandments as well as the great law to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourself. The most fully developed theology of love is found chaps. 14 to 17 of John's Gospel. Here are some of the things Jesus tells us: "If you love me, you will obey my commands." "The one receives my commands and obeys them is the one who loves me; and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father; and I will love him and disclose myself to him." "The one who does not love me does not heed what I say." "The world must be shown that I love the Father, and do exactly as he commands." "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Dwell in my love. If you heed my commands, you will dwell in my love, as I heeded my Father's commands and dwell in his love. This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. You are my friends if you do what I command you." "I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other. This is how all will know you for my disciples: your love for one another" (John 13:34-35).
From these words we can see that there is a simple equation between love for Christ our Lord and doing what he taught. Not puppy-love, or being in love with love, or feeling nice, or being nice to others; but real love of real people, warts and all, people as imperfect and sinful as we are. Christian love is not a passionless affair or a matter of cold obedience. Love is not a funny internal feeling, or romance. Love is a firm determination to will and do what the Lord demands of us in our relationships with God and with our neighbor. If there is to be a complete following of the words and commands of Jesus, it must be a passionate, self-consuming activity and way of life. The claims of God's service are absolute; they exclude whatever may stand in the way of that service that specifies and makes love present and real in the day to day situations we face. To love God is to love our neighbor, even when that neighbor happens to be an enemy or someone we dislike intensely. To love means to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness above all else. Christian love means that everything which hinders the service of God and neighbor must be cut off: even property, family, friends, values, and this without hesitation or looking back, as St. Luke's Gospel makes clear.
There is nothing soft or sentimental or easy-going about love of God and love of neighbor. As the Gospel tells us, such love “is worth more than any burnt offering or sacrifice.” In other words, love is more important than coming to church on Sunday, because if we don’t love God and neighbor, going to Mass would be a waste of time. Love is what makes us fully human and humane, sensitive and responsive to others, alive and alert and nice to be with. Love makes no deals. In marriage there can be no 50/50, which = 0; but only 100/100, which = a good wedded life. When we say that nothing matters but love, this is the kind of love we're talking about. Such love is not an invitation to irresponsibility but rather a call and challenge to mature responsibility. Such love says, "Not what I will but what the Lord wills." Only a fully convinced and passionate Christian is capable of such love. It is such love that Jesus in today's Liturgy invites us to live and live by. Such love will make our lives immensely more satisfying and meaningful and more exciting and fulfilling.
Copyright 2006 Alexander A. Di Lella, O.F.M. (Permission is granted for private use, but not to be reprinted or sent around)