LOVE TO SAVE AND TO BE SAVED
God
is love. We were created out of love. We were meant to love. Jesus
stressed this fact in the Gospel today when He was asked by a teacher of
the Law which is the most important commandment. It is interesting to
note that the Jews, out of the 10 original commandments, had developed
many other laws in response to the new situations they encountered.
However, with all the additions, the very spirit of the Law was lost.
Jesus took the opportunity to bring it back by revealing to them the
essence of the Law, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” It means that all
our being are included in that act of loving
God. Jesus also added, “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Here, Jesus specifies our neighbor as the recipient of that love for God.
It must be clear that God does not need our love in the same way that
we need His or our neighbor’s love. He is love Himself. He commanded us
to love Him not for His sake but for ours. It is because when we love
God, we realize our true call to be loving. In loving God, we become
worthy of being created. Loving God is salvific! Loving God may be praying, praising and
thanking Him. It also includes entrusting our lives to Him and making
Him everything in our lives. But how is it concretely expressed? The
second part of Jesus’ teaching of love comes in handy
here. Our love of God is best expressed through our neighbors, and the
best way to love them is by applying the same standards we apply to
ourselves.
Christian loving is willing the goodness of our neighbor. Goodness is
not limited to material or physical goodness, but more of spiritual
goodness. It is applying loving actions that will lead to your and your
neighbor’s salvation. We love to be saved and help others be saved, too.
When we regard God, love transforms into a saving action. This is but
obvious in the sense that God loves us to save us. When we respond to
that love, we cannot but love Him, too, for the sake of salvation. Fr. Benny Tuazon
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you love the people in your life for your own benefit, or do you love them for their own good?
Lord, remind me to always check my motivation for loving people.
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