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Love Your Neighbor as Yourself: The Commandment That Sums Up Everything

Asked which was the greatest commandment, Jesus answered with two, inseparable from one another.

One Coin, Two Sides

Asked which was the greatest commandment among hundreds in the Law, Jesus answers with a synthesis no one expected: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart," and a second, "like it": "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39). Then he concludes: "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:40).

Love as Action

In the Gospels, love for one's neighbor is rarely described as a feeling; it is almost always an action: stopping to help (Luke 10:33-34), feeding the hungry (Matthew 25:35), visiting the sick or imprisoned (Matthew 25:36), forgiving seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22).

A Question for Today

Who, within your reach today, could receive a bit of that concrete love? Maybe it's a call you have been postponing, a word of encouragement, or simply paying attention to someone nobody else is noticing.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:39

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