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…You shall love your neighbor as yourself. – Mark 12:29-31
Love, caritas in Latin, sums up the purpose of our lives. Loving God and others is what makes us truly human. Love unites us to God spiritually. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “…charity, by loving God, unites the soul immediately to Him with a chain of spiritual union” (ST, II-II, q. 27, a. 4).
Loving God and others is our excellence; it should be our main goal each and every day. Numero uno. I’ve decided this should be at the top of my planner each morning: Love God. Love others.
All Saints Day is coming up on Monday. There are a myriad of saints, all from different times, places, races, and walks of life. But there’s one thing each saint has in common: caritas. They all followed this commandment to love God and others with their whole hearts. Who is your favorite saint? I have so many, but St. Mary Magdalen, St. Therese of Lisieux, and St. John Henry Newman are at the top of my list.
Each of these saints expressed their love for God and others in different ways. The Magdalen poured expensive oil on Christ’s feet and washed them with her tears and hair (Luke 7:38).
Therese wrote that her whole life was centered on love: “My vocation is love. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and then I will be all things.”
Newman taught that Christ’s Sacred Heart speaks words of love to our hearts. Cor ad cor loquitur, heart speaks to heart, was his motto. He wrote, “Love, and love only, is the fulfilling of the Law” (Parochial & Plain Sermons, # 23). (Click here to read Newman’s excellent sermon about the priority of love: “Love, the One Thing Needful”)
Think now about one of your favorite saints. How was his or her quality of love for God and others unique? Could God be calling you to imitate this saint in your own life?
Readings for October 31, 2021: Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
- Deuteronomy 6:2-6
- Psalm 18
- Hebrews 7:23-28
- Mark 12:28-34