October 25, 2026.
“Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Mathew 22, 36-40)
Jesus concentrates all the ancient Jewish moral Law and all the new Christian moral Law in only one concept, in only one commandment: that of love. A love that must have, necessarily, two dimensions: vertical – towards God – and horizontal – towards fellowman -. The Christian love, as such, must be at the same time a love religiously motivated- for you, Lord, I want to do the things- and also a love that is full of concrete works, practical and necessary.
But in this fragment of the Gospel the Lord indicates something else, establish priorities. He speaks of a “first” commandment and of a “second” commandment. The two are necessary and indispensable, but without the first the second wouldn’t exist, although without the second the first would result empty, as an unfinished project. Therefore, spiritual motivation is essential as a starting point, for which is necessary those practices which reinforce it: personal prayer and the sacraments. After, or, at the same time, it will be indispensable that this spiritual load which is received in prayer, turns into life, into good works.
Intention: I am going to love only love. But I am going to loving doing what I should do at each moment. I will find time to pray and to do good works. Both for love.