In today's Gospel reading from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus gives us a very important reminder. One that our world desperately needs. In this Gospel, Jesus is explaining the two greatest commandments: "Love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from your whole mind, and from your whole strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself."
If we as a human race were truly following these greatest commandments, can you imagine how much better our world would be? If every single person on this earth lived their entire lives for God and God alone, they would follow His commandments instead of the commandments of the world. The world says that to get even, violence needs to occur. God says that we don't need to get even, just to forgive. The world says that lives are worthless- that no one has meaning. God says that all human beings are made in His image and likeness. The world says that God does not exist and that we are all alone. God says "I am with you always." And He means it. The world says to tolerate and God says to love. If we would just begin to realize the lies that are thrown at us day after day and run to the arms of Truth Himself, the God who tells us who we are and how we can be the saints that we are called to be, the commandments of the world would slowly disappear until all the world would once again follow the commandments of God.
Jesus commands us to "Love your neighbor as yourself." What does that actually mean? Loving your neighbor means loving them despite their flaws, despite their weaknesses, and despite who the world says they are. Loving them means seeing Jesus in them, even if they can't see Him in themselves. It means recognizing them as the Child of God that they are and treating them as such. Even if they are the most horrendous person to ever walk on this planet, God still loves them and is waiting with open arms for them to come back and walk in His love and grace. But before we can truly obey this commandment, we need to learn to love ourselves. And that comes from loving God with all of your heart. If you truly love God with your entire being, you will also love what God loves, and God loves YOU! And the more you learn to love yourself despite your failures and weaknesses, the more you will learn to love others, and in turn, love God.
Sometimes we will find ourselves complaining about our current situation or the situation that our country or world is in. Despite all of the anger, anxiety, or sadness we may feel as a result of tragedy in our world, complaining is never going to help anything. And neither is violence. When tragedies strike and people are in pain, the only things that can help are love and prayer. When we learn to live out these commandments, we will begin to see why Jesus calls these ones the greatest and we will see the profound effect that they will have on our lives if we just try to live in union with the one who loves us most, and try our very hardest to love everyone, no matter what, in the way that their Heavenly Father does. Love is the key to healing our broken world.
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