Commandments of Love

I have a beautiful chalice cover that my mother made for me which reads very simply, "God is Love." Each time I prepare the chalice for Mass I read those beautiful words and how true they are. Each of us has been created out of love because God is love and He is the author, the Creator of all human life. Since we have been created out of love, God bids us to share His love with our brothers and sisters. That is the beauty of our gospel for this 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A, Matthew 22-34-40. A scholar of the law asked Jesus this question, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." As I have told people, when we live these two commandments of love, we are living the 10 Commandments. The first three commandments focus on love of God and the final seven focus on love of neighbor. The commandments are what they are. They are not suggestions or recommendations, they are commandments. Love is a beautiful gift and we are called to live it daily. If we find that our love has grown cold, we need to bring that to God in prayer and ask Him to renew and strengthen the love that He has given to us and help us share that love with others. We are truly blessed and we thank God for the gift of His great love! Have a blessed weekend!!!