Love Your Neighbor Out of Love for God

(Photo courtesy of Christ in the City)

In the last issue of the Denver Catholic, I emphasized that our primary calling is to love God above all things. This is the first and greatest commandment. If we get this right, we will be able to love others fully. We call this love of neighbor. While loving God first is most important, loving our neighbors is also necessary to inherit eternal life.

Many Catholics learn about loving our neighbors within the context of the Ten Commandments. To introduce the commandments, the Catechism of the Catholic Church looks to Jesus' words in the Gospel: "In response to the question about the first of the ten commandments, Jesus says: 'The first is, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these'" (CCC 2196). The first three commandments are focused on loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and commandments four through ten express the command to love our neighbor as ourselves.

I would like to highlight two ways the Church encourages us to fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor: the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

The corporal works of mercy are:

• Feed the hungry

• Give drink to the thirsty

• Shelter the homeless

• Visit the sick

• Visit the prisoner

• Bury the dead

• Give alms to the poor

The spiritual works of mercy are:

• Counsel the doubtful

• Instruct the ignorant

• Admonish the sinner

• Comfort the sorrowful

• Forgive injuries

• Bear wrongs patiently

• Pray for the living and the dead

(Photo courtesy of Catholic Charities)

In the Archdiocese of Denver, we are blessed to have Catholic Charities diligently working to serve the poor through many of the corporal works of mercy across Northern Colorado. I am grateful for the women and men who lead and serve in these ministries. While so much good is being accomplished through Catholic Charities, we should not see that work as “being taken care of.”

All of us are called to perform the corporal works of mercy, and Catholic Charities does a wonderful job of providing opportunities for the faithful to serve, as does Christ in the City in their daily walking with the homeless. I strongly encourage you to volunteer with Catholic Charities and Christ in the City. Both apostolates extend the love of God to the poor and should have more volunteers than they know what to do with!

Jesus teaches his disciples, and teaches us today, that the works of mercy will ultimately decide their eternal fate! He says, “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me’” (Matthew 25:34-36). And he warns of hell if we fail in these. The reason that these works of mercy help us get to Heaven is because they are motivated by and performed out of love for Jesus.

Love exists in action. It is not merely a sentiment and does not mature if it remains merely an affection. Love is an act of the will, to seek the good of the other. Our love of God must propel us to action, which can be expressed through the corporal works of mercy.

Pope Francis has done a great service for the Church in reminding us regularly that Jesus calls us to have a “preferential option for the poor.” In serving the poor, whether materially or spiritually poor, we must remember that our motivation comes from the demands of the Gospel and charity, not philanthropy. Pope Francis explains, “The poor person, when loved, ‘is esteemed as of great value,’ and this is what makes the authentic option for the poor differ from any other ideology, from any attempt to exploit the poor for one’s own personal or political interest… Only this will ensure that ‘in every Christian community the poor feel at home. Would not this approach be the greatest and most effective presentation of the good news of the Kingdom?’” (Evangelii Gaudium 199).

In the same way that Jesus calls us to provide for the needs of the materially poor, the Gospel demands that we meet spiritual needs as well. We see Jesus and the apostles after him teaching, preaching, challenging and accompanying those they encounter. We, too, are called to do likewise. We are called to preach the Gospel and lead others to encounter Jesus because we love them! This is the love of neighbor!

We love our neighbor and serve the poor because God loves them first, and we love God. I invite all of us to examine our love of neighbor and especially our love of the poor as we conclude Lent and celebrate the Easter season. Ask yourself and pray with the following questions:

• Do I serve the poor because I would feel guilty if I did not, or because I desire for them to experience God’s love?

• Do I serve the poor because it makes me feel good or because I desire their true good?

• Do I preach the Gospel for my own merits in converting others or because I know that Jesus gave his life for them and desires their salvation?

• Do I love my neighbor even when it means carrying the cross?

• Do I love and forgive as Jesus loves and forgives, never expecting anything in return?

Our motivation is important and must always be purified. It’s good when we perceive the need to be compassionate and ease the suffering of others. Our guilt at not doing anything or the enjoyable feeling of acting in benevolence should move us to action. But Jesus wants to give those we serve so much more! I encourage you to pray before approaching the corporal and spiritual works of mercy and ask the Father how he wants to love the people you will serve. Open your heart to his plan through the works of mercy and then take great joy in what he accomplishes not only in this life but in his eternal Kingdom.