Meditation

At the heart of this Sunday's Gospel (cf. Mk 12:28b-34) lies the commandment of love: love of God and love of neighbor . A scribe asks Jesus, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" (v. 28). He answers by quoting the profession of faith with which every Israelite begins and ends their day, which begins with the words: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut 6:4). In this way, Israel maintains its faith in the fundamental reality of its entire creed: there is only one Lord, and this Lord is "ours," in the sense that he is bound to us by an indissoluble covenant, that he has loved us, that he loves us, and that he will always love us. It is from this source, this love of God, that the twofold commandment for us derives: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. […] You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (vv. 30-31).

By choosing these two words addressed by God to his people and linking them, Jesus taught once and for all that love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable and, even more, that they mutually support each other. Even though they follow one another, they are two sides of the same coin: lived together, they are the true strength of the believer! To love God is to live from him and for him, for who he is and for what he does. And our God is unconditional gift, is limitless forgiveness, is a relationship that fosters and helps us grow. Therefore, to love God means investing our energies each day to be his collaborators in the service of our neighbor without reservation, seeking to forgive without limits and to cultivate relationships of communion and fraternity.

The evangelist Mark doesn't concern himself with specifying who my neighbor is, because my neighbor is the person I meet on the road, during my days. It's not about pre-selecting my neighbor: that's not Christian. Do I think my neighbor is the one I've pre-selected? No, that's not Christian, it's pagan; but it's about having eyes to see them and a heart to desire their well-being. If we practice seeing with the eyes of Jesus, we will always be attentive and at the side of those in need. The needs of my neighbor certainly require effective responses, but even more so, they require sharing. To illustrate, we can say that someone who is hungry needs not only a bowl of soup, but also a smile, to be listened to, and even a prayer, perhaps recited together. Today's Gospel invites us all to turn our attention not only to the urgent needs of our poorer brothers and sisters, but above all to be attentive to their need for fraternal closeness, meaning in life, and tenderness. This challenges our Christian communities: we must avoid the risk of becoming communities that engage in numerous initiatives but have few relationships; the risk of becoming "service station" communities that do not offer companionship in the full and Christian sense of the word.

God, who is love, created us out of love so that we might love others while remaining united to him. It would be illusory to claim to love one's neighbor without loving God; and it would be equally illusory to claim to love God without loving one's neighbor. The two dimensions of love, for God and for our neighbor, in their unity, characterize the disciple of Christ. May the Virgin Mary help us to embrace and bear witness to this luminous teaching in our daily lives.

POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square

Sunday, November 4, 2018