One and Only Law

Gospel: Matthew 22: 34-40

Jesus makes it so very simple: love God, love neighbor.  It is we who have made it complicated in so many ways.  Some do so by making a distinction between love of God and love of neighbor, that love of God is more important.  Others find various ways to exclude people from the category of neighbor or limit the notion of love to whatever is convenient for them.  

But the reality is what we only love God by loving our neighbor.  God needs nothing from us - no sacrifices or temple buildings or ornate liturgies.  God created one temple in which God dwells - the human person, made in God's image and likeness, another Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Our oil and wine given in service to our neighbor in need is a greater act of worshipping God than those items used by priests and Levites in a temple building.

We lament the loss of temple buildings, but shed not a tear for the degradation and destruction of human life.  Or we only mourn the loss of those we care about and not at all to those we hate.  But every human being is God's temple, every person one we must love - friend and foe, near and far.  None are excluded from God's love, none should be excluded from ours.