Daily Reflection Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s Gospel passage invites us into a profound embodiment of God’s love – love of God and love of neighbor. This passage encapsulates the essence of Christian living and provides a roadmap for how we are called to direct our lives towards God and others. The totality and radical nature is awe inspiring. 

Firstly, Jesus emphasizes the primacy of love in our relationship with God. He quotes the Shema, the central prayer in Judaism, affirming that God is One and deserving of our complete devotion. This call to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength challenges us to wholeheartedly surrender ourselves to God's will, allowing His love to permeate every aspect of our being. There is something very liberating to the human spirit about this invitation to love. 

Moreover, Jesus pairs this commandment with another of equal importance – to love our neighbor as ourselves. In this, Jesus expands the notion of love beyond the vertical dimension of our relationship with God to the horizontal dimension of our relationship with others. We are called to recognize the inherent dignity and worth of every person, treating them with the same love, compassion, and respect with which we desire to be treated. With this comes the caveat that you must love yourself too, as a beloved creation of God. 

We are called to reflect on how we can embody the love exemplified by Jesus in our daily lives. We are invited to deepen our relationship with God through prayer, contemplation, and service, allowing His love to transform us from within. Simultaneously, we are challenged to extend that love to all those we encounter – especially the marginalized, the oppressed, and the forgotten.

Ultimately, this Gospel passage reminds us that love is the foundation of our faith and the key to entering into the Kingdom of God. It’s the key to being a person fully alive and in relationship with God. May we continually strive to love God and our neighbors with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, knowing that in doing so, we draw ever closer to the heart of God.