FIRST OF ALL
There are few experiences more joyful than that of encountering all of a sudden one of Jesus’ words that illuminates the depth of our being with new and intense light. Thus is the answer to that Scribe who asked him: «What commandment is the first of all?». Jesus has no doubt. The first of all is love. There’s nothing more decisive than to love God with our whole heart and to love others as we love ourselves. Love always has the last word. It’s clear. Love is what truly justifies our existence. The sap of life. The ultimate secret of our happiness. The key to our personal and social life.
That’s it. People of great intelligence, with astonishing capacity of work, of surprising efficiency in diverse fields of life, end up being mediocre people, empty and cold when they close themselves to fraternity and go about incapacitated for loving, tenderness or solidarity.
On the contrary, men and women, of apparently very limited possibilities, little noted for great successes, frequently end up radiating an authentic life to their surroundings, simply because they risk renouncing their selfish interests and are capable of living with attentive generosity toward others.
Whether we believe it or not, day by day we go about constructing in each one of us a small monster of selfishness, coldness and insensibility toward others, or a small marvel of kindness, fraternity and solidarity with those in need. Who will be able to free us of that unbelievable laziness for loving generously and from that selfishness that nests in the depth of our being?
Love doesn’t just happen, nor is it invented, nor is it fabricated just any old way. Love is welcomed, is learned and is spread. A greater attention to love of God revealed in Jesus, a deeper listening to the Gospel and a greater openness to his Spirit can make burst forth little by little our possibilities of love more than we can ever suspect right now.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
