God is Love

The perfect commandment that is presented today has its origins in our scriptural tradition, and in the reality that we are made in God's image.  The stories passed on to us in the Old Testament show our loving God as God who is most kind, generous, and merciful.  When we begin to put away all of our expectations  of how God is or ought to be, then we can appreciate all that God has done for us.

But (as the psalmist asks) if God has done these marvelous things for us, what should our response be.  Jesus reminds us quite often that the work that he dos is not about himself, but it is in accord with what the Father has commanded.  The saints and holy men and women put their own needs and concerns aside, so as to be part of drawing people into the Kingdom.

Love God and Love one another then has to begin with that image of the Father.  We are created for relationships.  A relationship with our God, the giver of every good thing, and with one another, in which we share a covenantial  relationship because we are God's people.  The Paschal Mystery is that culmination of the saving activity of God through Jesus Christ.  We see the cross event as the model of how we need to be.

We sometimes confuse our love with each other with our being friends.  The love that we share is based in compassion and hope.  Like the Good Samaritan we readily stoop down next to our brother or sister when they are broken or oppressed.  Our care is not limited by the artificial boundaries that we put up.

St. Paul uses this great example of the Body of Christ to illustrate our relationship with God and others.  When one member of the body hurts, we all hurt,  As a Eucharistic people we strive to become perfected in the image of Jesus Christ.