Another Take on Today's Gospel--Self Esteem
Today's Gospel is a very familiar one. The scribe asks Jesus which commandment is most important. Jesus tells him that there are two: Love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love God. Love your neighbor. Sounds simple, right. But it's never as easy as it sounds. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be easy to follow the 600+ laws of the original Mosaic Code than it is to follow these two simple rules.
We are weak, sinful creatures. As much as we want to love God, we often fail. Fortunately, since God created us, He's well aware of our faults and He loves us anyway. He even gave us the sacrament of reconcilliation so we can get back in His good graces. God loves us so much, He was even willing to send His Son to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven.
The second commandment may be even harder for most of us. Love your neighbor as yourself. See, there are really three commands here:
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Love yourself.
That last one is where it really gets difficult sometimes. If we're going to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, then we have to love ourselves first. Now some people don't seem to have any problem loving themselves. But for most of us, we're our own worst critic. As my wife always says, when we look in the mirror, it's easy to see the pimples and the blemishes. We say things to ourselves that we would never say to our best friend.
If our friend has had a bad day, it's in our nature to tell them that it's not their fault, that things will be better tomorrow, all the comforting things that they need to hear. But when we have a bad day, what's our response? "I'm an idiot. The world's out to get me. I'm a failure." We're not our own best friend.
But God loves us in spite of our faults. He sees us for the person that we really are, faults and all. Should we do any less? Are we better judges of character than the One who made each and every one of us? Did God really send His Son to die on the cross for an idiot? For a failure? I don't think so.
So, as we go through the day today, keep this in mind. The three types of love mentioned in today's Gospel are really one and the same. We're called to love God. How do we manifest that love? By loving one another as we love ourselves.
That means we have to love ourselves, just as God loves us. One has to follow the other.
Love God. Love your neighbor. Sounds simple, right. But it's never as easy as it sounds. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be easy to follow the 600+ laws of the original Mosaic Code than it is to follow these two simple rules.
We are weak, sinful creatures. As much as we want to love God, we often fail. Fortunately, since God created us, He's well aware of our faults and He loves us anyway. He even gave us the sacrament of reconcilliation so we can get back in His good graces. God loves us so much, He was even willing to send His Son to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven.
The second commandment may be even harder for most of us. Love your neighbor as yourself. See, there are really three commands here:
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Love yourself.
That last one is where it really gets difficult sometimes. If we're going to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, then we have to love ourselves first. Now some people don't seem to have any problem loving themselves. But for most of us, we're our own worst critic. As my wife always says, when we look in the mirror, it's easy to see the pimples and the blemishes. We say things to ourselves that we would never say to our best friend.
If our friend has had a bad day, it's in our nature to tell them that it's not their fault, that things will be better tomorrow, all the comforting things that they need to hear. But when we have a bad day, what's our response? "I'm an idiot. The world's out to get me. I'm a failure." We're not our own best friend.
But God loves us in spite of our faults. He sees us for the person that we really are, faults and all. Should we do any less? Are we better judges of character than the One who made each and every one of us? Did God really send His Son to die on the cross for an idiot? For a failure? I don't think so.
So, as we go through the day today, keep this in mind. The three types of love mentioned in today's Gospel are really one and the same. We're called to love God. How do we manifest that love? By loving one another as we love ourselves.
That means we have to love ourselves, just as God loves us. One has to follow the other.
posted by Mike at 1:00 PM
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