Today's Gospel is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. In an attempt to trick Jesus into making a blasphemous statement, He is asked which part of the Law is the most important. He tells them that the Greatest Commandment is to "Love your God with all your mind, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself." That's it: love. He specifically tells us to love three entities: God (who created us and whom we owe everything in our existence), our neighbors (which means every human no matter their gender, ethnicity, job, or beliefs), and ourselves (for without love for ourselves how can any of our other loves mean anything?).
The homily today emphasized that the love that Jesus talks about is not the same as the love that we are being sold through our television, our radios, or our computers. Love today is being confused with attraction. Love is more than a feeling; it's a choice. If love were only about feelings, it could not survive the day to day challenges that life throws at us. Our feelings are transient; our loves endure the multiple changes that our feelings put us through.
Nor does love mean just letting people walk over us or giving in to everything that other people want. Love sometimes means taking difficult stances. Love is not about letting people have their way; it sometimes means defending oneself and one's beliefs against overwhelming odds.
Love, true love, is constantly being challenged by the world. We need to show the world our love, not because of some whimsical feeling, but because although love in this world is a difficult choice, love will win out in the end.
The homily today emphasized that the love that Jesus talks about is not the same as the love that we are being sold through our television, our radios, or our computers. Love today is being confused with attraction. Love is more than a feeling; it's a choice. If love were only about feelings, it could not survive the day to day challenges that life throws at us. Our feelings are transient; our loves endure the multiple changes that our feelings put us through.
Nor does love mean just letting people walk over us or giving in to everything that other people want. Love sometimes means taking difficult stances. Love is not about letting people have their way; it sometimes means defending oneself and one's beliefs against overwhelming odds.
Love, true love, is constantly being challenged by the world. We need to show the world our love, not because of some whimsical feeling, but because although love in this world is a difficult choice, love will win out in the end.
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