Thirty-first Sunday B in Ordinary Time

To love God, the neighbor, and oneself (Mark 12: 28b-34)
The command of love does not lose its relevance.

You, too, sighed as you heard the gospel: I will listen to again about love. He talks about love, sings about love, and looks around, and we quickly notice the absence of love.

Someone advised the priest to preach about anything but love. Even so, love is lost. And he argued with one breath: “Husbands divorce, siblings are judged, friends do not talk, neighbors look at each other, believers in the church are transformed.” so that they do not die in lack of love, and before they stand before God, who is Love (Jn 4: 8), it is our duty not to stop talking about the commandment of love.

We all have to fight for true love because we recognize the attacks of the temptation of the body, the world, and the devil daily; we long to strengthen ourselves to resist and persevere in true love.
Therefore, even today, we receive the words of Jesus not only with our ears, mind, heart but with all our being: “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength… You will love your neighbor as yourself! There is no other commandment greater than these ”(Mark 12: 30-31).

Synoptics (evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke) noted the importance and need for the command of love. In the Old Testament in the Book of Deuteronomy (6: 4-5), this command was not limited but the most incredible wisdom. He who knows this command of God, God’s counsel or direction for life, should accept it as the most astonishing wealth.
The coming of the Code and his question to Jesus, “Which commandment is the first?” (Mark 12:28), cannot be understood as a provocation or a bad intention. The Code hears how Jesus rightly answers the crowd’s questions. The Jews had 365 positive and 248 negative commandments. Such a number can be wrong. So which command is the first, most important, most important? Jesus commands two commands that do not stand side by side in the Old Testament. It is essential for us that Jesus not only combines these commands but also interprets: “There is no other commandment greater than these,” (Mark 12:31). It teaches that one command cannot be separated from another. One order without the other would be incomplete. To love God and not to love one’s neighbor is not true love. The truth is that God wants to be loved by the two ways of love: indirectly through people and directly by the sincere gratitude of faith.

The commandment of love leads us to follow God, who is love and who shows his love for us from the very beginning in creating the world. The worldview teaches us the love that God loved before he made him. The whole world is a song about God’s love. Jesus expressed his passion not only by word but also by his death. Could we have received more from God than we received in the Eucharist, the mystery of love, when we have the living and true God present among us in this sacrament? God promises us His love in God’s kingdom in the future.
The commandment of love is a challenge to return the love of Jesus. In our tiny hearts, we have to have enough space for God all over the world. You will love God, your neighbor, as yourself (cf. Mk 12:31). He who fulfills the order will achieve everything. He who does not obey the command did not accomplish anything, even if he did miracles. Our first duty is, “To love God with all one heart and with all understanding, and with all strength” (Mark 12:33).
The world does not want to hear about God’s love. All the more so, we, who have believed in God, must not stop talking about the commandment of love and live the commandment of love. The words are known: If you want people to stop listening to you, start talking about love. ”(P. Plus) What can you expect from a world without love? Murder in wars and unborn children, murder of conjugal love, sibling, neighborly, friendly love… He who does not love his brother, sister does not love God either. A Christian loves God in another person and himself. He who hates himself, his neighbor, hates God. Only man is capable of the created things of true love. Let us renounce any part of the command of love and stop keeping it, and we cannot talk about true love.

About Höss is said to be the commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp that his father wanted him to be a priest and become one of the greatest murderers in history. A few meters from the house where he stroked his children, he managed to kill children with mothers and fathers. What was that love? In the same camp, Maximilian Kolbe voluntarily goes to a hunger bunker for his fellow prisoner. What was that love?
It is also known about another murderer of humanity, Stalin, that he was in seminary, and none of his collaborators was sure of his life with him. He had many friends murdered. What was that love? How many people pray for their murderers, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” What is love?

The command of love does not emphasize nice words, but actual deeds of love. This is a challenge for us. Everyday events speak of our love. We must not drive God out of our hearts through sin. God created the world out of love, and God also created man out of love and for love. God rightly asks us for love. About St. Francis of Assisi is known to have burned with love. One man complained to him that he had a problem loving God. As they walked together, they met a blind and a leper. Francis asked him, “Would you like me to restore your sight and be no longer a leper?” “Sir, if I loved you, but I would become your slave for life!” “See,” he said. František asked a man who told him that it was difficult for him to love God, “he would love me if I restored his health. Why don’t you love the Lord God for being healthy?” We have something to love God for.

The struggle for love reminds us of St. Paul in Corinthians (cf. 1 Cor 13: 1-13). And it would be beautiful if we read and thought for ourselves about the words from the First Letter of St. John the Apostle (4: 7-5,4), which begin with the words: “Let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jn 4: 7).

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