The
whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Gal. 5:14).
This
was said by the Apostle Paul. It is brief, wonderful, incisive, clarifying.
It
tells us what should be the foundation of our Christian behaviour
and what should always be our inspiration: love for our neighbour.
The
Apostle sees the fulfilment of the law in the practice of this commandment. The
law tells us not to commit adultery, not to kill, not to steal, not to covet...
and we know that someone who loves does not do all this. Someone who loves does not
kill, does not steal ...
The
whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour
as yourself.’
Someone
who loves does not just avoid evil. Those who love are open to others, desire
what is good, do what is right, giving themselves: to the point of giving
their life for the person loved.
This is
why Paul writes that in love for our neighbour not only is the law observed but
the
whole law is ‘summed up’.
The
whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour
as yourself.’
If the
whole law consists in love for our neighbour, we should see the other
commandments as means to enlighten and guide us so that, in the intricate
situations of life, we can find the way to love others. We need to know how to
read God's intention, God’s will, in the other commandments.
He
wants us to be obedient, chaste, mortified, humble, merciful, poor... in order
to carry out the commandment of charity better.
The
whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour
as yourself.’
We
might ask, how is it that the Apostle does not mention love for God?
The
fact is that love for God and love for our neighbour are not in competition.
The one, our love for our neighbour, is the expression of the other, our love
for God. Loving God, in fact, means doing God’s will. And God’s will is that we love our
neighbour.
The
whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour
as yourself.’
How are
we to put this word into practice?
It is
clear: by loving our neighbour, truly loving our neighbour.
This
means: giving, but giving without self-interest, to our neighbour.
Those who
use their neighbour as an instrument to achieve their own ends, even the most
spiritual, such as their own sanctification, are not loving. We must love
our neighbour, not ourselves.
It is
certain, however, that someone who loves in this way really will become a
saint, will be 'perfect like the Father', because that person will have
achieved the very best a human being can achieve. Such a person
goes to the heart of God’s will, puts it into practice. Such a person wholly
fulfils the law.
And
isn’t this the only thing we will be examined on at the end of our
lives?
Chiara Lubich
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