Jesus’ Two Great Commandments

We all know the Ten Commandments that Moses gave us on Mount Sinai, but Jesus gave us two new ones. Some would say that these two new ones basically sum up the other ten in a nutshell.

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.’ This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

The Importance of Love

Love, rather than faith, seems to be at the core of Jesus’ teaching. While faith is definitely important, St. Paul tells us that love is more important. 

So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Jesus even tells us that love can get us forgiveness for our sins: 

“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:47)

St. Paul pretty much tells us that love is more important than any external manifestation of our faith:

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1)

Jesus even tells us to love and to pray for our enemies: 

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5: 44)

Jesus did this from the cross when he said:

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Pope St. John Paul II forgave his assassin in prison for trying to kill him. So, the question now becomes, “Do my prayers include lots of love for God and for everyone here on earth, even my enemies?”

Calvinism

I once got into an on-line argument with a Calvinist over these commandments to love. He said that all of this “love stuff” was some kind of hippy theology. Of course, most Calvinists are very legalistic in their theology, rather than being family-oriented. They view God as more of a stern judge condemning sinners to hell, rather than as a loving father welcoming back prodigal sons. In a covenant relationship, which we are in with God our Father, love for family members has to be the number one priority. Otherwise, a fear of not following all of the rules (scrupulosity) takes over, and that road leads nowhere. Love conquers all, including the carnal allurements of the world, the tricks of the devil, and our own weak flesh, which craves luxury and pleasure. The surest way to love God, I have found, is to develop a very strong love and attachment to his mother, Mary.  She, in-turn, will see to it that you will lose your sinful ways and turn to God for everything.

Believe me, this works every time. Say your Rosary every day, and ask mother Mary to help you in your life. Consecrate yourself to her, and repeat this consecration each and every day. One day, you will find that those embarrassing confessions will stop, and you will love meditating on the passion of Jesus. He truly loves when you do this. In return for your meditation on His suffering, He gives lots of grace to you, more than you have ever received before. And we are saved through grace.

Saints’ Quotes on Love

“All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good.”   St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop (1696-1787 A.D.)

“The man who truly loves God also loves his neighbor.”   St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop (1807-1870 A.D.)

“The gift of love enables us to become in reality what we celebrate as mystery in the sacrifice.”   St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)

“Anyone who has love is far from sin.”   St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155 A.D.)

“Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defense, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him and brings him to his journey’s end.”   St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)

“Love does not reflect; it is unreasonable and knows no moderation.”   St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop (406-450 A.D.)

“Whatever is honestly done out of love and in accordance with love can never be blameworthy.”   Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot (1100-1169 A.D.)

“If someone wishes to savor the joy of brotherly love with greater perfection and delight, he must extend even to his enemies the embrace of true love.”   St. Aelred, abbot (1110-1167 A.D.)

“We should indeed love one another as Christ loved us, he who laid down his life for us.”   St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“Love unites us to God; it cancels innumerable sins, has no limits to its endurance, bears everything patiently.”   St. Clement I, pope (unknown – 100 A.D.)

“Love appeared to me to be the hinge of my vocation.”   St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin (1873-1897)

“I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.”   St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin (1873-1897 A.D.)

“Oh Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love.”   St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin (1873-1897 A.D.)

“Christ taught us in many different ways that we should wish to imitate him by our own kindness and genuine love for one another.”   St. Maximus the Confessor, abbot (580-662 A.D.)

“With outstretched arms Christ begs us to turn toward him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors.”   St. John of God, religious (1495-1550 A.D.)

“Those who are loved enter fearlessly into the heart of their lover.”   St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)

“Anyone alive to the love of God can be recognized from the way he constantly strives to glorify him by fulfilling all his commandments and by delighting in his own abasement.”   Diadochus of Photice, bishop (400-486 A.D.)

“Love is as strong as death because Christ’s love is the very death of death.”   Baldwin of Canterbury, bishop (unknown – 1190 A.D.)

“Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be.”   St. Bernard, abbot (1090-1153 A.D.)

“Hatred is utterly rooted out of a heart whose only love is goodness.”   St. Gregory the Great, pope (540-604 A.D.)

“Be driven by the love of God, because Jesus Christ died for all, that those who live may live not for themselves but for him who died and rose for them.”   St. John Baptist de la Salle, priest (1651-1719 A.D.)

“Happy are we, beloved, if love enables us to live in harmony and in the observance of God’s commandments, for then it will also gain for us the remission of our sins.”   St. Clement I, pope (unknown – 100 A.D.)

“As heat makes things expand, so it is the work of love to expand the heart, for its power is to heat and make fervent.”   St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)

“We cannot love unless someone has loved us first.”   St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“Nothing so much wins love as the knowledge that one’s lover desires most of all to be himself loved.”   St. John Chrysostom, bishop (347-407 A.D.)

“The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and works with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God’s love.”   St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop (1807-1870 A.D.)

“By your diligence show your love for those whom God has given you, just as Christ loved the Church.”   St. John Baptist de la Salle, priest (1651-1719 A.D.)

“If someone wishes to love himself he must not allow himself to be corrupted by indulging his sinful nature.”   St. Aelred, abbot (1110-1167 A.D.)

“When unbelievers observe that we not only fail to love people who hate us, but even those who love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the Name is blasphemed.” (From a homily written in the second century)

“Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.”   St. John of God, religious (1495-1550 A.D.)

“If a person loves himself he seeks his own glory, but the man who loves God loves the glory of his Creator.”   Diadochus of Photice, bishop (400-486 A.D.)

“Blessed is the soul so wounded by love.”   St. Columban, abbot (545-615 A.D.)

“Are you puzzled to know how it is that the Lord will be with you if you love? God is love.”   St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“Job was said to fear God because he turned away from evil. For love is moved by fear when the mind rejects the thought of sin.”   St. Gregory the Great, pope (540-604 A.D.)

“Our love for Christ is as strong as death, because it is itself a kind of death: destroying the old life, rooting out vice, and laying aside dead works.”   Baldwin of Canterbury, bishop (unknown – 1190 A.D.)

“The spiritual building up of the body of Christ is achieved through love.”   St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)

“It was love that was to bring the Church of God together all over the world.”   Sixth Century African Author

“A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love.”   St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“The greater one’s love is, the easier is the work.”   St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“By loving your neighbor you prepare your eye to see God.”   St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way.”   St. Gregory the Great, pope (540-604 A.D.)

“Love your neighbor more than your own life.”   St. Barnabas, apostle (unknown – 61 A.D.)

“My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven.”   St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)

“Loving God renews his image in us.”   St. Columban, abbot (545-615 A.D.)

“The perfection of brotherly love lies in the love of one’s enemies.”   St. Aelred, abbot (1110-1167 A.D.)

“Love, and the Lord will draw near; love, and He will dwell within you.”   St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“Love’s profit lies in its practice.”   St. Bernard, abbot (1090-1153 A.D.)