23 August 2019
Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
We’ve heard it so many times: love God and love neighbor. These are the greatest of the Christian commandments, repeated again and again. Unfortunately, the fullness of the message is lost when they are summarized in this way. This is particularly true with the second of these.
We are called to love our neighbor, yes, but we are called to love him as our very selves. It’s easy to overlook this important detail, and when we see it, we’re not sure what to do with it. Love of self seems so self-centered and individualistic. But we can look at ourselves with love because we are wonderfully made by our loving God. Only through this relationship can self-love be understood.
For a Christian, the greatest expression of self-love is recognizing our utter dependence on God. We need God, and we act lovingly towards ourselves when we seek him in everything we do. With this in mind, we love our neighbor when we help him to seek and to find God in all that he does.