When I was in seventh grade, like most boys of that age, I was constantly hungry. I could eat at any hour of the day. Then I fell head over heels for a classmate named Kristin. One evening, while lying on my bed and pondering her perfections, my mom called me to dinner. For the first time in my adolescent life, I remember thinking: “I’m not hungry.” My heart longed for Kristin more than my stomach for food. Now, I wouldn’t confuse adolescent infatuation with mature love. But it was an experience of how love can reorder everything in our lives.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart” (Matthew 22:37). He is not issuing a burden or a moral goal for high achievers. He is naming the deepest orientation of the human heart. We were made for love so great that it gathers every other love into itself. Jesus does not ask us to love less the persons or things that attract us. Rather, he wants our love for God to be so total and intense that we love everything and everyone else because we love him so much.
Do we believe that such a love is possible for us? Because of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is! It is readily available to us. Let’s repent of our half-hearted love for God and ask Him to fill our hearts to the brim with divine love.
— Father John Muir
©LPi
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