|
The first Commandment of the Law: to love God with our whole being.
Loving God is not just something very important for man. It is the one absolutely important thing, the one for which man was created, and so it is his fundamental task on earth and will be his sole occupation forever in heaven. it is the means whereby he attains happiness and complete fulfilment. Its absence makes man’s life empty. A soul who loved Our Lord very much, and who led a life of much physical suffering, left behind some very pertinent words: What frustrates a life is not pain but lack of love. The one great failure in life is to have lived without loving: it may be that many other things have been achieved, but what is really important, namely, loving God, is left undone.
In the Gospel of today’s Mass (Matt 22:34-40) we read how a Pharisee came to Jesus and asked him a question to test him, to twist his words: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Perhaps he was waiting to hear Jesus say something that would enable him to accuse him of contradicting Scripture. But Jesus replied: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind This is the great and first commandment. God is not asking for a bit of room in our heart, in our soul or in our mind, for just a share in our love: he wants it all - not just a little love, some part of our life, but all we have got. God is All, the Only One, the Absolute, and must be loved 'ex toto corde', absolutely (F. Ocáriz, Love for God, Love for men, Madrid), without limit or measure.
Christ, God made man, who comes to save us, loves us with a very personal love; He is a jealous lover, asking for all our love. He expects us to give him what we have, to follow that vocation to which he called us one day, and He continues to seek us out in the middle of the chores and circumstances - pleasant or otherwise - of our daily lives. God has a right to ask us: Are you thin king about me? Are you aware of me? Do you look to me as your support? Do you seek me as the Light of your life, as your shield..., as your all?
Renew, then, this resolution: In times the world calls good I will cry out: ‘Lord!’ In times it calls bad, again I will cry: ‘Lord!’ (J. Escrivá, The Forge, 506) Every circumstance should be an opportunity for loving him with our whole heart, with our whole soul, with our whole mind, with our whole strength and life, not only when we pay him a visit in a church or when we receive Holy Communion, but also in our work, in our sufferings and failures, at times of receiving unexpected good news. We have to say to him often in the depths of our heart: Jesus, I love you, I accept this difficulty serenely for you, I will finish this task well because I know that it will please you, knowing that it is not all the same to you if I do it well or badly. Now in our prayer we can say to him: Jesus I love you ..., but teach me to love you more; may I learn to love you with my heart and my with deeds.
With permission from Scepter UK. Short excerpt from IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD by Francis Fernandez.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please email info@defensoresfidei.com.
The DEFENSORES FIDEI FOUNDATION actively spreads Ecclesial Information, Catechetical Instructions and Apologetics in pursuit of making good Catholics better Catholics. Any contribution to help this apostolate is heaven-sent and now TAX-DEDUCTIBLE (in USA). Please visit us at www.defensoresfidei.com.
Newer news items:
Older news items:
|
