“Just give me the Cliff Notes version.” Sometimes we long for things to be simpler. We want to simplify our lives and reduce things down to the essentials. Reading War and Peace seems like an impossible undertaking but maybe we could just get through the Reader’s Digest abridged version. In the time of Jesus there were some 613 laws that were identified in the Torah. Following all of those laws seemed like an impossible burden for ordinary folks. Perhaps a scribe or a Pharisee could accomplish it but for the everyday person it certainly seemed out of reach. So, where does one start? What is the first and greatest commandment? As Glenda told Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, “It is always a good idea to start at the beginning.” What is the beginning of the “way” that leads to God?

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Mt 22,34) Without hesitating, Jesus responds with the first step, “You shall love…”. The way to the Father begins with love. Our Christian journey of discipleship begins in love. If we wish to enter fully into life, experience the abundant life that Jesus came from the Father to bring us, and inherit the gift of eternal life, we must begin with love. Anything done without love is meaningless. We can not truly share in the divine nature without love. We can not enter into the kingdom of God without love. In fact, without love, we are nothing. St. Paul would affirm this truth for us in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1Cor 13,1f)

“You shall love the Lord, your God…” The love of God is our first love. Any love that is not founded in the love of God is ultimately misguided. God is the source and the summit of love. John tells us, “Love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” (1Jn 4,7) We are created in love and for love. If we wish to fulfill the commandments of God and accomplish his will for our life, then we must first seek a communion with God in love. We can only love because God first loved us. “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” (1Jn 4,10) “We love because he first loved us.” (1Jn 4,19) God has taken the initiative in love and in Jesus he has invited us to share in the eternal love of the Trinity, in the love of the Father for the Son, in the Holy Spirit. God has loved us first and our love is a response to the love that we have experienced in him. Love is the portal through which we enter into the divine and eternal life and “remain” in that wondrous mystery of life. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” (1Jn 4,16)

You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Mt 22,37) The commandment of love addresses our entire interior life. We must begin the way of love by directing our entire interior being to love. The heart is the center of the human person. The heart is meant to be the interior dwelling place of God. God wants our hearts. “For you do not desire sacrifice…God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart.” (Ps 51,16) The soul is the “breath of God”, the principle of life in us. God pours his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. (Rom 5,5) The mind is meant to be enlightened by the light of Christ and to be illuminated by the light of the truth shining within us. This allows us to discern the truth, make wise choices in our life and do things that are pleasing to God.

“The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22,39) If we are to take the first step, then the second step must follow to establish that we are walking in the way of truth. Our love of God must necessarily be followed by the love of our neighbor. We can not have one without the other. The two commandments are not the same but they are essentially linked to one another. “If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1Jn 4,20f) All love involves three persons: God, myself and my neighbor.

“The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Mt 22,40) Everything hangs on love. It is the beginning and the end of our life in Christ. Ultimately, St. Augustine would say in one of his sermons, “Love and do what you will.” If anything we do is rooted in the truth of God’s love and directed to our neighbor in love then we will fulfill the law and the commandments of God. “This I command you: love one another.” (Jn 15,17)