It seems that “loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind” as our response to His Love for us is pretty straightforward. But how difficult it really is! It means that we must place God’s will ahead of ours, seek His will in all things – and make it paramount in our lives. There is no day on which any of this would be easy. But it remains necessary.
When the question was posed by a scholar of the law (Matthew 22, 34-40), Jesus cited the first sentence of the Jewish Shema prayer: “Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6, 5). Then He added its complementary law: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19, 18). Finally, He declared that the “whole Law and the prophets” depended on these commands. Do we appreciate that Jesus combined the originally separate commandments and presented them as the essence of true religion? The uniqueness of Jesus’ response shows His understanding that the two laws have equal value and so are of equal importance and inseparable.
For further reflection: A door hangs on two hinges. If the hinges are out of alignment, the door will not swing properly or open easily. If the hinges of our lives (“the love of God” and “the love of neighbor”) are out of balance, what does that say about our “alignment?” Does it need some adjusting, fine-tuning … or maybe a complete overhaul?
