"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 Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
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."
Amid the toxic political climate of the present moment where civility seems to be such a rare commodity, it is sad to observe that this toxicity appears to have metastasized into the world of faith and religion. One needs only to be a keen observer of social media to sadly see that religious ‘wars’ are still alive and well in the 21stcentury. Biblical fundamentalists battling more socially aware Christians; Traditional Latin Mass Catholics battling Vatican II Catholics; pro-Pope Francis Catholics battling pro-Benedict XVI Catholics; Bishops militating to bar Biden from the Eucharist battling Bishops and the Pope who encourage him to continue receiving the Eucharist! My friends, the toxic litany of right verses left, perceived truth verses perceived error, crescendos with the passing of each day.
As one would like to think that this might be a unique moment of acrimony in the Body of Christ, for students of Church history, alas, it merely narrates a tragic tendency among Christians of all ages to be at each other’s throat! Sadly, it’s as old as Christianity itself.
No wonder, then, that Jesus reminded his followers of all time of the two central commandments that remain the touchstone of authentic Christianity in the midst of the counterfeits that claim that name of authenticity. To love God with our whole being – all that we have and are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That, my friends, remains the true gauge of living authentic Christianity and the measure that separate costly grace from what the Lutheran theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called cheap grace, unwilling to pay the price of living the authentic life of the one whose name we bear.
How easy it is for all of us to miss the forest for the trees in our incessant desire to be right that so easily slips into the ugliness of self-righteousness. No amount of quoting scripture by heart, or the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the Code of Canon Law will substitute for the simple graciousness toward our sisters and brothers that reverences their inherent dignity as a belove child of God, worthy of respect and love, despite the difference of opinion or convictions we may hold.