OCTOBER 29, 2023
‘To love God and love your neighbour – this is one of the most attractive of the sayings of Jesus.
It is an encouragement to live fully with what brings the greatest joy in life – true love of God and the neighbour.
It is at the heart of good religion, and what attracts many to Jesus.
Bad religion puts law above love. Bad religion fights for the partial truth of religion. We risk being victims of bad religion, just as we can be victims of bad nationalism, bad psychology or any other bad way of living. Jesus’ life was to propose good religion and to live by it. The religion of some of the Pharisees was bad, in that it was incomplete in its scope.
We admire those who give energy in love and service. We are proud of people we know whose lives make a great and good difference to others. We know that our family and neighbourhood, parish and school, workplace and leisure time have been enriched by the self-sacrificing love of many people, young and old.
‘He gave it his all’ – we say that of a good player at the end of a match. We say of parents that they “were always there for the children”. May we give all we have in our lives, giving in love, knowing that all we give is itself a gift from God, the giver of all good gifts.
Picture Jesus with a sick person; watch him touching the person.
This would be against the law! What would you say to him?
Lord, let love be the guiding principle of all I say and think.
