Love of Neighbor

If you have been in the parish here for some time, you have probably heard me say on at least one occasion something to the effect of: “We do not become saints by caring for the poor” or “We are not saved by service projects.” While this is true, this may be a bit confusing for people to hear (at least the way in which it is phrased). So allow me to clarify.

In our gospel reading today, Jesus is challenged by a scholar asking which is the greatest commandment. Jesus responds by saying that the first and most important commandment is to love God with all of one’s heart; He then says that the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. The ordering here is important. Many people today, if they were asked that question, would probably answer that the first is to love your neighbor and the second is to love God. But that is not what Jesus says. He says to love God first. Why? Because as St. John says in his first letter (1 John 4), God is love itself. How can we possibly love our neighbor as we ought if we do not first know (much less love) the God who is love itself. We have to first experience the love of God in order to then respond to His love with our own, and that all must happen first if we are to love our neighbor as we ought.

So when I say that we are not saved by caring for others, I mean that we are not saved by that alone. We do not become saints just simply by being good people. We are saved by God’s grace given to us through the sacraments; His grace makes us good and enables us to care properly for others. We must be baptized, confirmed and enter into communion with God so that we may be transformed into saints. The love that we have for our neighbors is a consequence of that transformation, not the means by which it is achieved. May we truly love God with all our hearts so that we can more effectively love our neighbor as we ought.