Love God above all things

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength."

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself"

Recall the Last Supper, He is surrounded by his disciples. He tells them a new commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you." So now, He says that our love for one another has to mirror Jesus' love for us. And, how did He love us? You can scarcely count the ways. For the love of us He became human, born of a teenage Jewish girl and grew up in a small village where everyone knew His every secret, except the big secret that He was not Joseph's son, but God's. For the love of us He walked the long dusty roads of Palestine, healing the sick and raising the dead, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. He was hungry and thirsty with no place to lay His head.

Each word, each gesture was shaped of love and all of this crowned by the last great act of love, crucifixion. No greater love than this to lay down your life for your friend or for an enemy. Even crucifixion was not enough. He never stops giving, giving His very self. How many times have you heard these words, "This is my body given for you."? What does this all mean to you? With all that crowds in upon us, how is it possible today to love God above all things? The only way I know how to do that is not to just know about God but to come to know God, to have in some way experienced Him, to have Him touch you and you touch Him. Get to know God. You cannot love someone you do not know.

source: this week's reflection, Fr.Bob Warren, SA