“Love Your Neighbor” wasn't a suggestion

It is not enough for us to say: "I love God," but I also have to love my neighbor.  St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? ~ Mother Teresa 

(Gospel Text: Mk 12:28B-34)

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,

"Which is the first of all the commandments?"

Jesus replied, "The first is this:

Hear, O Israel!

The Lord our God is Lord alone!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your mind,

and with all your strength.

The second is this:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these."

The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.

You are right in saying,

'He is One and there is no other than he.'

And 'to love him with all your heart,

with all your understanding,

with all your strength,

and to love your neighbor as yourself'

is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,

he said to him,

"You are not far from the kingdom of God."

And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Do you wish to honor the Body of the Savior? 

Do not despise it when it is naked. Do not honor it in church while outside it is naked and numb with cold. For he who said ‘This is my Body,’ and made it so by His word, is the same one who said, ‘You saw me hungry, and gave me no food. As you did not do it to the least of these, you did not do it to me. Honor him then by sharing with the poor. 

Jesus wouldn’t be calling us to be Good Samaritans unless He knew that we, with His help, could live up to that mission. He the Good Samaritan tells us anew, “Go and do the same,” promising us that if we do it, we will LIVE, fully, in this life and in the next.

We can’t give what we don’t have.

God is love. Not God is POWER or PERFECTION or CREATIVITY or JUSTICE or BEAUTY … even though God has all of those attributes and more. God is LOVE , which means all love comes from God.

Therefore, go to God and purify your heart, in turn you will see Christ in the face of your neighbor and love him as yourself.