Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

                                          LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

Can we actually do that? Can we really love our neighbor as ourselves? It seems that this is a very hard thing to do. But that is exactly what God wants us to do. Asked by a religious leader what were the greatest commandments of God, Jesus answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and  greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22: 37-40). Now do you think you can do this? Loving your neighbor as yourself seems an impossible thing to do. But with God, nothing is impossible. Loving God with all our hearts, with all our soul and with all our mind open our hearts for the agape love of God to flow into our hearts until we realize we cannot truly love God without loving our neighbors as ourselves. We become partakers of God's agape love to mankind. (God's agape love is unmerited, gracious, and constantly seeking the benefit of the ones He loves). Thus those who become united with God in spirit, mind and soul begin to manifest this kind of love. This was the kind of unselfish love exhibited by the saints and religious giants of old like St Francis of Assisi, St Claire, St Bernadette and others, and this was the same kind of love exhibited by Mother Teresa of this century. The very first step to love our neighbor as ourselves is to develop selflessness in ourselves. Sometimes we have to sacrifice our own interest for the sake of others. It may be difficult at first but with constant prayers and great intimacy with God, we start to develop this trait until it becomes second nature to us.