The Lord our God is one Lord

Tobit 6:10-11.7:1.9-17.8:4-9, Mark 12:28-34. Some of the best Biblical glimpses of marriage and family life appear in today’s first reading. The bride’s father, Raguel, expresses a noble view of marriage when he said to Tobias: “Sarah is yours according to the rules laid down by Moses. Your marriage to her has been decided in heaven. From now on she is your beloved.” This sense of God’s blessing continues in the prayer of newly married husband: “Blessed are you, O Lord of our ancestors, who said, It is not good for the man to be alone...”

Thus, today’s Gospel links love and commandment. True love is a giving of self, “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” In that way, Jesus shows that these two commandments are inseparable. We cannot love God without loving our neighbour and in loving our neighbour we are, at the same time, loving God. Yet, the two commandments are not on the same level: love of God is to be the primary. We owe the greatest devotion to God. If we are caught up into a loving relationship with God, it will overflow into a love of all those whom God loves and our various human loves for other people will reflect something of God’s love for them. Without love everything else loses in value, while with it we are “not far from the reign of God.”

May the Lord fills our hearts with His love and make us to love others more and more! Amen!! Have a great day!!!