Love God and Neighbor – Reflection on Matthew 22:34-40
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Jesus, with inspired words, further reveals the mysteries of the greatest commandments of Old Testament truth throughout the Gospels. What remains for us is to be enlightened by exercising our ability to love God and neighbor. When we do, we can be surprised by the change in our interior prayer life. Our actions, love of scripture, and desire to pray can further reveal and multiply the desire to embrace love’s mysteries. You may also notice that you acknowledge the growing sense that love has dimensions other than what your knew. The evidence is you want to grow deeper into the mystery of what it means to love God and neighbor. Jesus’s mysteries are there for us to unwind and understand. Saint John of the Cross writes, “Even in our time God… grants manifestations or declaration of already revealed mysteries.“
The Pharisees Question Jesus by James Tissot (full resolution painting)
More detail are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Matthew 22:34-40 – Scripture*
The Greatest Commandment
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Matthew 22:34-40 Reflection – Love God and Neighbor.
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Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities get to know your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite the world’s distractions.
Attributions
This site has written permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible Matthew 22 Bible passage.
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