This word of life comes from Paul, the Apostle: it is a short, incisive, marvellous word, which clarifies matters. I am always struck by this reflection because living it well, i should be prepared for my meeting with Jesus!
It tells us what should be the foundation of our Christian behaviour and what should always be our inspiration: love for our neighbour.
The Apostle sees the fulfilment of the law in the practice of this commandment. The law tells us not to commit adultery, not to kill, not to steal, not to covet ... and we know that someone who loves does not do all this. Someone who loves does not kill, does not steal ...
Someone who loves does not just avoid evil. Someone who loves opens out to others, desires what is good, and does good, giving himself to the point of giving his life for the person who is loved.
This is why Paul writes that in love for our neighbour not only is the law observed but the whole law is fulfilled.
The whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'.
If the law consists in love for our neighbour, we should see the other commandments as means to illustrate and guide us so that we can find the way to love others in the intricate situations of life: we need to know how to read God's intention, his will, in the other commandments.
He wants us to be obedient, chaste, mortified, humble, merciful, poor ... in order to carry out the commandment of charity in a better way.
The whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'.
We might ask, how is it that the Apostle omits to talk about the love of God?
The fact is that the love of God and of our neighbour are not in competition. The one is the expression of the other, love of our neighbour is the expression of the love of God.
To love God means doing his will. It is his will that we love our neighbour.
The whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'.
How are we to put this word into practice?
It is clear: by loving our neighbour, truly loving our neighbour. This means giving, giving disinterestedly, to our neighbour.
Anyone who uses his neighbour as an instrument to achieve his own ends, even the most spiritual ends, such as his own satisfaction, is not loving. We must love our neighbour, not ourselves.
It is certain however that someone who loves in this way will really become holy, will be 'perfect like the Father', because he will have achieved the very best that he could achieve. He will have got to the heart of God's will and put it into practice and so will have fulfilled the whole law.
Will it not be solely on this love that we will be examined at the end of our life?
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