Petition: Lord, fill my heart with your love

Gospel Passage: Matthew 22: 34 - 40  

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them (a scholar of the law) tested him by asking, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? He said to him, You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Introductory Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, give me the grace to focus on the essence of my faith: to love you above all things and my neighbor as myself.

1. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?

Whether or not the scholars question was sincere, Christs response takes it at face value because it is, if you will, the question of human existence.  It is the question about the meaning of life. Everyone poses the same question, albeit with different words: What is most important in life? What must I do in life to succeed? What does God want me to do? How can I be happy?  This search for purpose is universal and it can even reach dramatic proportions. Since a materialistic society by itself cannot provide a satisfactory answer, many, particularly young people, conclude that suicide is the only possible escape from an apparent meaninglessness. 

2. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart.

Man will only find true meaning in God (cfr. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 27).  As St. Augustine put it, Our hearts are restless until they find rest in You (Confessions, Ch. 1). Man was created for God. Every person has the vocation to be ultimately united to God. No substitutes will do. Other things, besides sin, arent bad, but they are not sufficient. However, if God holds the first place in our lives, all other things will fall into place. That is why Christ exhorts us to, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides (Matthew 6:33). 

This love for God isnt something we achieve of our own accord. Christ gives us the tools to love him by granting us the theological virtues of faith, hope and love through baptism: They dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and Triune God for their origin, motive, and object (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1812).  Yet the seed planted at baptism must be nurtured. Just like any virtue, they must be practiced.

3. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love by its nature is expansive. It seeks to give. Consequently, if our love for God is authentic it must translate into a love of neighbor. Thats why St. John could write: Whoever loves his brother remains in the light (and) whoever hates his brother is in darkness (1 John 2:10 - 11). In becoming flesh, Christ has mystically united himself with humanity. So not to love all who belong or can belong to Christs Mystical Body by means of grace is not to love Christ himself(Fr. Maciel, Envoy, letter n. 20).  It is actually a virtuous circle: by loving God we begin to love our neighbor and by loving our neighbor we begin to love God more.

Conversation: Dear Lord, grant me the grace to love you by loving my neighbor. Purify my love of all self-seeking so that it may truly be pleasing to you.

Questionnaire:

1. Does God hold first place in my life and if not what is holding me back from putting him first? What are some of the practical consequences of that love? Do I ever sacrifice myself out of love for Christ? 

2. What means do I use to grow in my love for him?

3. Does my love for Christ show in my love for my neighbor? How?  Do I practice an authentically Christian and universal love, or am I simply nice to those who are nice to me?