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Love

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind.” - Mark 12:30

February is considered the love month. Hence, I would like to focus our reflections on the meaning of love. When Jesus was asked about the most important commandment, he did not point to the Ten Commandments (Ex.20;Dt.5), but rather to the love commandment: loving God and loving our neighbor (Mk.12:28-34; Dt. 6:5; Lev.19:18). Our Biblical text is called the Shema: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind”. The shema is a declaration of faith that every Israelite ought to know and understand not only by words but by heart.

Loving with all your heart

What does it mean to love God with all your heart? We always associate love with the heart. When we symbolize love, we would draw a picture of the heart. To the Israelites, however, the heart is not the center of feelings or emotions, but rather the center of decisions or the center of the human will. In other words, for the Israelite point of view, we make decisions not with our minds, but with our hearts. Thus, when Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”(Mt.5:8), he was in effect saying that those who have one, single will or decision to serve God will truly experience God’s abiding presence.

Perhaps, one of the greatest commentary of Christian faith and practice is the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a famous German theologian who lived at the height of Nazism in Germany. He became a leader of the underground confessional church and was captured in connection to an aborted assassination plot against Hitler. He was jailed and later on executed by the Nazis. Before he was captured, he went to the United States to strengthen the contacts between the Confessional Church and American Christianity. He was advised by his friends never to return to Germany, because his life was at stake. But nevertheless, he returned to Germany. On the eve of his departure, he wrote a very moving letter to his friend Reinhold Niebuhr, a distinguished American theologian saying: “I must live through this difficult period of our national history with the Christian people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people…Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either deciding the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive, or deciding the victory of their nation and therefore destroying our civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose, but I can not make this choice in security.”

Indeed, to live out our Christian faith in a concrete situation is never a bed of roses. For at the center of it is the cross. Our faith in God is oftentimes tested. We are sometimes lured by comfortable positions and economic security. Our Lord Jesus Christ could have abandoned the cross. Bonhoeffer could have remained in the comfortable classrooms of the universities in America. But as Jesus prayed earnestly to God, “not my will but your will be done”(Lk. 22-24).

Loving God with all our hearts, therefore, would mean to offer unto God our will or decisions in life. And like, Bonhoeffer may our decisions and commitments in life also take seriously God’s purpose for our country and people.

Loving God with all your soul

What does it mean to love God with all your soul? There are many interpretations of the word soul. But I would like to take the word soul to mean the inner self or the inner person, our principles or values in life. A person without principle is a person without a soul. Principles can not be seen, but they can be shown in what we do, in how we behave as persons, in how we deal and relate with our fellow human beings.

Let us always be reminded that oftentimes the things that can not be seen are things that really matters in life.

There is a beautiful picture painted by Jacob Jordaens about an old philosopher from Athens by the name of Diogenes. In that beautiful picture, Diogenes is shown walking in the market place of Athens at daytime, carrying a lighted lantern. He is holding up the lantern with his right hand so that it could send its rays as far as possible. With his left hand, he is grasping a stout staff as though he has been from a long and difficult journey.

The people who gathered around him are convulsing with laughter at such a very strange sight. Even the cattle in the picture seem to be staring at him in amazement. According to the picture’s background story, when people asked Diogenes what he was doing with a lighted lantern in the daylight, he replied, “I’m searching for an honest person”.

The only person in the picture who is not making fun of Diogenes is Emperor Alexander the Great. He is at the background mounted on a horse. He looks very serious as though he is meditating on the need to find really honest people to be officers of his great empire.

When Diogenes the Philosopher was a little boy, he was greatly humiliated by the dishonesty of his own father, who was a banker and was convicted of defrauding many people in his own city. And so, young Diogenes made up his mind that he would let nothing stand in the way of his own integrity, and that he would spend his life teaching honesty and self-control.

In order to show to people how little they really need the things that they sometimes try to get by dishonest means, Diogenes discarded all his possessions except a tub, a wooden bowl, and a lantern. Then, one day he saw a small boy making a cup out of his hand, and scooping up the water and drinking from it. And so, he concluded that he could get along in life even without the bowl, and so, he threw it away. All he had left was a tub in which he would sleep and the lantern that he would use in his desperate search for an honest person.

Since Diogenes had nothing anymore which people could take away from him, and was not in need of anything that others could do for him, he was not afraid of anyone, and was radically honest in his words and actions.

Indeed, the principles of honesty and self-control can not be seen, but they can be shown in words and in actions. Loving God with all our souls, therefore, would mean that we have to stand firm with our principles and convictions, for they are matters between us and our God.

Loving God with all your strength

What does it mean to love God with all your strength? Usually, when we talk of strength, the first thing that comes to our mind is physical prowess. In the Bible, however, strength does not only mean physical fitness; it also means wealth. Thus, we may say, “Love the Lord your God with all your wealth!” For isn’t true that the wealthiest are also the strongest, most powerful people? Wealth, indeed, is power. Wealth is strength, especially in a very materialistic world, like ours.

About 500 BCE (Before the Common Era), a person by the name of Croesus, the King of an ancient nation named Lydia, was considered at that time the richest man in the world. Perhaps, he was the counterpart of Sultan Bolkiah of Brunie or Bill Gates, who are known among the richest men in the world today. Croesus was so rich that people would still say, “As rich as Croeus”, whenever they describe a person who is wealthy.

Croesus built a very beautiful palace in the City of Sardis, and there he lived with great splendor. He was so proud of his possessions that he would like to have a lavish display of his wealth to impress his visitors.

When the famous Greek Philosopher Solon was traveling from one nation to another and finally came to Sardis, Croesus received him as his honored guest and lodged him in the royal palace. Then, after showing to Solon all the evidences of his enormous wealth, Croesus said to the Greek Philosopher: “Stranger of Athens, we have heard much of your wisdom and your travels through many lands. I am curious; therefore, to inquire from you, of all the people that you have seen, whom would you consider the happiest?”

Solon was silent for a while as he tried to think of many people who live in simple homes, and yet have great reasons to be happy. Then, he said: “Tellus of Athens, Sir. He is a poor man, but he has reared a family of fine children. He has served his city honestly, and is respected by all people who know him.”

The rich man Croesus was very much disappointed that the wiseman Solon did not consider him the world’s happiest person. But nevertheless, he thought that Solon might consider him as the second happiest person. And so, he asked Solon whom he would consider the happiest, except Tellus. “Cleobis and Bito, Sir”, replied Solon, “They are not rich, but they have enough for their needs. They love their mother so much that they are always trying to please and to honor her. They find happiness for themselves in making their own mother happy.”

Many years later, Croesus began to understand the meaning of what Solon had told him. He was defeated in a battle against Persia, and he was carried away as a captive. Then, one day the Persian king heard Croesus murmuring to himself, “Solon! Solon!”, and asked him why he was uttering the name of the Greek Philosopher. Croesus replied that he was thinking about a great truth told to him by Solon – the truth that one can not buy happiness with money.

The scientists of the University of Southern California discovered in a study they conducted sometime ago that people don’t get happier by getting richer. Many people are under the illusion that the more money they make the happier they will be. And so, they put all their resources into making more money at the expense of their health and the people whom they ought to love and care for. But they don’t realize that their material wants increase with the amount of money they make.

Loving God with all our strength is to offer unto God all that we have and make use of them to serve other people, especially those who have less in life.

Loving God with all your mind

What does it mean to love God with all your mind? God’s gift of reason is considered one of the things that distinguishes us from other creatures. It is that which makes us distinctly human. This includes our ability to know the truth and to stand for the truth, or even to fight for truth. In our world today, truth is very unpopular. Truth is oftentimes compromised for selfish gain. But in Christ Jesus our Lord, we find “the way, the truth, and the life”(Jn.14:6).

This reminds us of the Little League fiasco several years ago that somehow put our country in shame internationally. Our Philippine athletes won in the Little League in Long Beach, California, USA, but only to be stripped of their title several days later for cheating their names and age. We are also reminded of the Florentino Family of Zamboanga. Their son was supposed to join the Little League, but they refused to give in to the desire of the sports authorities that their son would assume another name, not his real name, in order to be qualified. When they were interviewed about their son, Mr. and Mrs. Florentino said in halting Tagalog, “Totoo, kami po’y mahirap lamang. Ngunit, ayaw po naming magsinungaling”. (True, we are poor. But we don’t want to tell lies).

Certainly, there are also times in our lives when we need to stand for truth. And perhaps, we would also be tempted to compromise. For oftentimes, to know the truth and to stand for the truth is not only difficult and painful, but sometimes it is also dangerous.

But it is our hope and prayer that in such dangerous times, may we always be reminded of our heroes of the faith, courageous men and women who never compromised truth. They were indeed faithful to him who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”(Jn.14:6).

Loving God with all our mind is to offer unto God all our gifts of reason, even our passion for truth – the truth that will set our people free.

This is what it means to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind. It is important to note that the word all is repeated four times in our Biblical text. All means wholeness, totality, without reservations, completeness. This would mean, therefore, that we should love God with the totality of our lives. No area of our lives is not offered unto God. For we do believe that it is only in loving God in this manner that we will be able to sustain our struggles for the genuine transformation of persons and communities. #

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