“How
can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love
with the same God.”
St. Thomas Aquinas
The
“greatest commandment”, as affirmed by Jesus Himself, is “to love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy
6:5). We know this, of course, and we have no problem with it … until
we are forced to define what it means to “love the Lord our
God”. Like so many other words that have been reduced to cheap “church
speak”, throwing such a word about so casually and carelessly often renders the
word meaningless. That we “love” Mexican food or that we “love” the new
car we just bought does not do such a profound word justice. And it
actually is that using the word so carelessly is not unlike casually tossing
“God” about in public. We often do not stop to consider what we are
conveying – and that some words require the utmost in reverence and respect and
must not be used so thoughtlessly.
It
is written in Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Do not be rash with your mouth,
and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in
heaven and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.” We are
taught by this, of course, that careless use of words and careless speech will
often do more harm than good. “Telling it like it is” more often means
“telling it like we see it” – and then we are not known for “loving” the Lord;
we are better known as jerks.
Let
us begin this day with the foundation of our being and the greatest of all
commandments; being so “madly in love” with the Lord that we give of all we
have and of all we are. I think, then, we will begin to see others in a
whole new light – IF we are willing to “love” the Lord first.
Blessings,
Michael
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