‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37–39)
These are the greatest commandments of all that Jesus mentioned to the Pharisees and Sadducees when they challenged him. They are also the most difficult to follow because, just like the Pharisees, we often look at the laws of God either through the lens of reductionism, or practise the laws without fully understanding the spirit and intent of the laws.
What does it mean to love God with all our heart, soul and might? ‘Love’ in this commandment in Greek is Ἀγαπήσεις (Agapēseis). where Agape is the highest form of selfless love to God. ‘Heart’, ‘soul’ and ‘might’ in Greek: καρδίᾳ (kardia), ψυχῇ (psychē) and διανοίᾳ(dianoia). These three words are root words of our modern understanding of the heart (cardio), soul (psyche) nad mind (metanoia — conversion of the mind). In practising Agape love, one needs to be in constant reflection of ourselves, and being honest to God in our prayers as we confess to Him what we have done for the day.
This is particularly important as we practise the act of humility in recognising that being self-righteous and prideful feeds into our ego. In Matthew 8, the Roman Centurion declared to Jesus ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed’ as he implored Jesus to help his sick servant. These very same words were also uttered by us during Mass during Holy Communion. Yet, the crux of the question is: how often do we realise the huge implications of these words?
In the first reading today, Exodus 22:20–26, God instructs Moses to tell the that the Israelites the following commandments: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. “If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.” as they built a new covenant after Moses led them out of Egypt. As a people of a newly formed nation, God specifically told them to be inviting to foreigners and to love their relatives and friends in order to create an united identity among His people. He called them to recognise one another as being One with God as they recognised their fellow people as being equal among themselves. In doing so, God wanted to show the Israelites that they were equal in God’s eyes. For anyone who was mistreated, or unfairly treated, God would reach out to the marginalised and bring them back into His fold.
Most, in fact, all humans, practise some form of judgement and self-righteousness on others, knowingly or unknowingly. How many of us would readily admit that we often cast judgement on others, just because we have read the Bible? I know I do especially when I encounter people who do not seem to show what I understand as ‘love’ to others. I am all the more aware that very often as I criticise others, or as I deviate away from God’s will, my weaknesses are revealed and magnified. But am I willing to be like the prodigal son, to cast away my pride and to readily seek the forgiveness from the father with all my heart, soul and mind in the parable of the return of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32)?
St Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:5C-7 wrote to the people in Thessalonia ‘You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia’. This passage provides a guide to how we should love God. As in the process of praying and confessing our sins to God, God works within us and transforms us to be like Christ. Metanoia — the conversion of mind, would eventually flow through us. As a result, we are transformed in our heart and soul to act like Christ.
Metanoia happens every day, and every moment of our lives. We are transformed by God’s love every moment we turn to God and reveal our deepest selves to the Lord. We are stripped away of who we think we are, and who we think people perceives us to be and we present our vulnerable selves to God as we ask God to transform us. In order to be able to do so, we ask God for courage to understand Him better each day.
Do we dare to say that we know God absolutely? Do we dare to say we know the absolute morals that God would eventually judge us when we are called to the Lord? No, I do not possess such courage to declare so. Time and time again, God has revealed to us that our moral judgement can proven wrong. One such major example was seen in the persecution of Galileo by the Catholic Church in historical times when his scientific claims that the Earth revolves around the Sun stood in contradiction to Church teachings back then.
Yet in modern times, we do see the attempts of the Church to reconcile science and faith. Paragraph 159 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that ‘Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.” “Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.’ In short, truth is not absolute at all times, in our human lifespan. But God, the Divine and Creator is.
Perhaps, it is a lesson that we, as the layman, need to always remember. To be less moralistic, and to be open-minded enough to accept that there are many unknowns in this world. Such mysteries can be eventually revealed to us through science as we discover more about who and what God really is. Science, is but one of the ways, that God is revealing Himself to us, through His grace and mercy — his beauty. We need to be able to accept uncertainties and go with the flow of the revelation of the Divine, through science, and through our daily interactions with God’s creations.
This brings us back to the second greatest commandment, ‘To love our neighbours as ourselves.’ What is our deepest desire? We desire love and acceptance from God, and inherently from others, who are also the creations of God. In loving ourselves, should we not treat others in the same way as how we treat ourselves? If we exercise God’s grace and mercy to ourselves in being able to forgive our sins and accept who we are, as God’s creation, then should we not do so for others equally in a compassionate manner? Are we not called to love others like just like the Good Samaritan who recognises that the sufferings of others and is compelled to lift up the vulnerable for the common good?
The call by Pope Francis to have same-sex civil union law is an exemplary example of such love and pastoral care that we should extend to one another. There is a need to recognise the dignity of people belonging to the sexual minority as fellow human beings. Even as one may not be able to understand why there exists people of a different sexual orientation, Jesus’ second commandment calls for people to reach out to this particular group and practise this particular precept of love.
What would then my role be as a person who belongs to the sexual minority? I am called, first to love myself as how God created me to be, and to love my fellow brothers and sisters as how I love myself — to not judge and condemn those who condemn me for who I am, but instead, ‘turn the other cheek’ to love them and to attempt to build bridges with them. Secondly, I am called to love people on the margins of the society, and to extend God’s grace and mercy to them. It may be difficult at times, but faith in God matters. To love God, means also to fear Him. Fear, not in its usual sense, but with the awareness of my personal accountability to God. And also trust in God that He will provide for me, spiritually, to love others; just like how Jesus multiplied the loaves of bread and fish at the Sea of Galilee to feed five thousand people in Matthew 14:13–21 to share His love to others, and even having twelve existing baskets. The table of God’s grace is always extended to accommodate to everyone.
