The Greatest Commandment

When asked, what is the greatest of all commandments, the Lord says: Love God and neighbor. In this two-fold commandment is summed up the entire Old Testament (the Law and the prophets). And who fulfilled this two-fold commandment? The Lord. In his life, the Lord did not choose between love of His Abba and love of neighbor. His cross showed that He gave his whole life to both. And just as this two-fold commandment sums up the entire Old Testament, the entire Christ-event is summed up in the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection of our Lord. We recall and celebrate these events by which the Lord has redeemed us in what we call the Paschal or Easter Triduum (three days counted from sundown to sundown). It begins with the evening Mass of the Lord’s supper and ends with the evening prayer on Easter Sunday. Within this Triduum, we gather to recall the Lord’s Last Supper on Maundy or New Covenant Thursday, the Lord’s passion and death on Good Friday, and the Lord’s resurrection at the Vigil Mass or any of the Masses of the day (Easter Sunday), with a re-enactment of the Encuentro between the Mater Dolorosa and the risen Lord before the first Mass of the day. This Triduum, taken as one, is the feast of all feasts! Indeed, it is the mother of all feasts! We celebrate the feast day of a saint on the day he died since that is also the day of his birth into heaven. This practice in regard to our saints and our own hope in our own resurrection are rooted in the Lord’s dying and rising.

When asked, what is the greatest commandment, the Lord answers: Love God and neighbor. The first one is clear, but not the second one. The popular understanding at the time of our Lord was that neighbors referred only to Jews, not to non-Jews. Because of this, a lawyer of the mosaic law had to ask our Lord: But, who is my neighbor? In answer the Lord told the scribe the parable of the Good Samaritan. And then our Lord asked him: Which of these three (the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan - remember that Samaritans and Jews were not on good terms) was neighbor to the robbers’ victim? The scribe answered: the one who treated the victim with mercy. Our Lord was able to get the scribe to say something unthinkable - that the Samaritan was his neighbor. Arriving at this new insight, the scribe was then challenged by our Lord: Go and do likewise.

There seems to be two things we can draw from this. The first is that the word neighbor is an inclusive term, not an exclusive one. It refers to everyone. A neighbor is not defined by one’s religion, race, socio-economic status, gender, political affiliation, ethnicity, and so on. A neighbor is basically what Pope Francis speaks of in Fratelli Tutti, a brother or a sister. Brotherly love or love of neighbor is one’s love for everyone because we are all brothers and sisters, sharing the same flesh and the same home, the earth. St. Francis of Assisi - in his deep sense of affinity with all creatures - calls the sun, brother and the moon, sister. With the Franciscan spirit, we see that love of neighbor extends to the care for the environment. Doesn't Pope Francis teach in Laudato Si that there is a deep connection between the care for the environment (our common and only home) and love of our fellow human beings? This can be seen, for instant, in the long-standing social teaching of the Church that God created the world for the good of all, not just for the good of a few.

And this is the second thing we can draw from the parable, being a neighbor means this inclusive and compassionate love towards our brothers and sisters who are victims of violence and indifference. Yes, there is romantic love, love of family, love of friends, love of country, etc., but - as the Lord shows us on the cross - His witness to His Abba, the God of mercy - there is love of neighbor.

You can use the above for your examination of conscience. Ask yourself: are my actions, habits, attitudes imbued by my love of Christ? Do they come from my desire to share in His love for all? Does my love exclude others? Do I think and behave as though others don’t matter? Are there people I don’t even notice? Since we're talking about social fraternity, the same can be made on the communal or institutional level.