SHOWING OUR LOVE
Jesus was asked, “Which commandment is the first of all?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
And then he said, “There is a second commandment like the first. It is that you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
When we hear this commandment, we may wonder: “Who is my neighbor?” Is it the young couple next door struggling to make ends meet? Is it the elderly couple across the street experiencing health problems? Or could it be the widow two blocks down, grieving the loss of her husband? What about the homeless man, the woman with disabilities, the disenfranchised? Are they my neighbors? What about people around the world who are experiencing war, famine, persecution, and now the threat of terrorist attacks?
Everyone, regardless of their station in life, is our neighbor. Jesus said that we should love everyone just as we love ourselves. To me, that means we should treat everyone with the same respect that we expect. We should be as concerned about each person’s needs as we are about our own. We should give everyone the same opportunity to live life to its fullest, and we should show the same love for one another that God shows to us.
Jesus didn't mean that we should just have a good feeling for others. He meant that we should love our neighbors through our actions. Every day, we have opportunities to reach out to someone in need, to show them they are loved, to tell our neighbors they are welcome to sit at our table and share the bounties God has provided for all of us.
Dear God, help us to open our hearts and show others that they are loved. Guide us to invite them to come and take their place at the table. Amen.
