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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
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Gospel text (Mk 12:28-34): One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these..."

The first commandment (you shall love God) and the second (you shall love your neighbour) form a single precept

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, while one of the scribes asks about the “first” commandment, Jesus speaks of two commandments, which actually form a single precept. Thus appears the essential interaction between loving God and loving our neighbour. Anyway both come out of the love emanated from God, who loved us first.

Without the connection with God, we will see in our neighbour only the “other” without being able to recognize in him God’s image. On the contrary if we totally forget the attention to the other, just wishing to be “pious”, the relationship with God also disappears: it will be just a “correct” relationship, but without love. Only my availability to help my neighbour, to show love for him, makes me also open to God. Only the readiness to serve my neighbour opens my eyes to all God does for me and to the extent of his love for me.

—The Saints developed the capacity to love their neighbour in an always new way thanks to their meeting the Lord and vice versa: love grows through Love!

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