Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.- Matthew 5:17
Have you heard the saying that the secret ingredient to any special recipe or good meal is love? Actually, it’s the secret ingredient to anything creative. You can tell when something has been created with love. There’s just something “extra” you can taste or sense.
This Sunday’s readings are all about the Commandments. Notice how Jesus takes the Commandments to the next level. Not only must we not kill, we must not even be angry with our brothers. Not only must we not commit adultery, we must not even look on another with lust (Matthew 5:21-28). Jesus takes the Commandments and adds the secret ingredient: love. Keeping the Commandments means we must love our neighbors enough to treat them as they are: fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, created in the image and likeness of God (cf 1 John 4:21, Genesis 1:27).
According to the Catechism, “Jesus acknowledged the Ten Commandments, but he also showed the power of the Spirit at work in their letter” (CCC 2054). Jesus took the Commandments to the next level when He added love: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).
How fitting that we focus on love during this Valentine’s week. Jesus is love (1 John 4:8). Jesus—Love itself—is the fulfillment of the Commandments. Love is the new law. I can ask myself, how do I strive to fulfill the law of love in my own relationships? Do I truly seek to love my family in words and deeds? I can pray and ask God to reveal to me where I could seek to love Him and others more fully.
Jesus, thank you for adding love to the Commandments. Help me to remember that I can love others because You love me first (1 John 4:19). Help me to love!