Loving God Prepares the Heart

~~~ Tb 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a ~~~ Psalm 128 ~~~ Mk 12:28-34 ~~~

 

 

 

At last Jesus and one of the scribes come to a major agreement...

 

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.”

 

The one common denominator is love.

If we love God with our entire being; how can we not love our neighbor?

If we love God then it will surely be reflected in how we deal with our neighbor.

 

But how do we know if we really love God?

I think we must look at how we love our neighbor.

And honestly it is so much more difficult to love my neighbor

 than to love God.

I must remind myself often that loving God and loving

 my neighbor cannot be separated.

Jesus seems to indicate they might be of equal importance,

 for the Christian life to be authentic.

 

 

Tobiah takes Sarah for his lawful wife;

 even though seven others before him had quickly been stricken by death.

Your marriage to her has been decided in heaven!

 

This time was going to be different...the curse had been lifted by the angel,

through the power of prayer and faith.

 

Tobiah arose from bed and said to his wife,
“My love, get up.
Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us
and to grant us deliverance.”

 

Loving God is made evident through the prayers we say...

Prayers said with all our heart, all our understanding,

and all our strength.

 

The combination of love for God and each other

sealed with prayer saved the life of Tobiah.

Call down your mercy on me and on her,
and allow us to live together to a happy old age.

Tobiah brought God into his marriage with Sarah

and God smiled down upon them.

They both had such faith and confidence in the sincerity

of their prayer together that they

rose and went right to bed.

Their closing Amen. Amen. still echoing in the air.

 

Loving our neighbor follows closely in the footsteps of loving God.

Loving God first prepares the heart to love the neighbor.