“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” — Mark 12:30
When the scribe asked Jesus which commandment stands first, the Lord did not hesitate. He quoted the Shema — the prayer every Jew recites morning and night — and added the second commandment like a twin: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Love of God and love of neighbour are one commandment with two accents; we cannot speak one without the other.
To love God with the whole heart means our affections are ordered: God first, all else in His light. With the whole soul: our very life belongs to Him, held in trust. With the whole mind: our thoughts, plans and imagination directed toward what is true and holy. With all our strength: the work of our hands offered as worship.
How we live it
Begin and end each day with prayer, even briefly. Keep Sunday holy — it is the Lord’s day, not the week’s leftover. Let love of God show in love of neighbour: patience at home, honesty at work, generosity to the poor. As Saint Teresa of Avila taught her sisters, God walks among the pots and pans; He is found not only in the chapel but in the kitchen, the office and the shamba.
Lord, You loved us first. Teach us to return that love — with all our heart, soul, mind and strength — and to see Your face in every neighbour. Amen.