Saint Pius X, Pope
Friday of week 20 in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40In today’s Gospel, Jesus summarizes the whole Law in love: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You must love your neighbour as yourself.” Yet love is much more than a command imposed upon us from outside; it is the natural response of a heart that has discovered how deeply it is already loved. God loves first, and His love awakens love within us. Once we truly experience ourselves as created, forgiven, accompanied, and cherished by God, loving Him ceases to be merely an obligation, it becomes an inner necessity. Love itself obliges us to love. And the love we receive from God cannot remain enclosed within us; it necessarily reaches our neighbour. This is why the two commandments are inseparable: the more deeply we receive God’s love, the more capable we become of loving others with patience, mercy, generosity, and forgiveness. Pope Pius X desired that the faithful, especially through frequent reception of the Eucharist, come closer to Christ and be transformed by His love. Christian morality therefore begins not simply with “You must love,” but with the astonishing truth: you have been loved first. Our entire life of discipleship is the grateful response of love to Love Himself. Let’s reflect: Do I experience my love for God and others merely as an obligation, or as the grateful and necessary response of a heart that knows how deeply it has first been loved by God?
Don Giorgio