The catechism teaches that the Great Commandment of Jesus is “to love God and love your neighbor.” How striking that the original record of that commandment, St. Mark’s gospel, has a slightly different take! A scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love…” The actual command, taken from the traditional Jewish prayer, called in Hebrew the Shema, is to “hear.” The love comes as a consequence of coming to hear that “God is Lord alone.” That serves as a reminder that, in our own lives, loving only flows from the action of coming to know and appreciate who God and neighbor truly are.
