Christ the Cornerstone

Mary reminds us love is the greatest commandment

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments’ ” (Mt 22:36-40).

Everything important in life depends on love. This is a bold statement that is subject to misinterpretation—especially when love is defined as emotional or physical self-gratification. Real love transcends personal feelings. It is

self-sacrificing, a manifestation of God’s gift of himself to us. In fact, “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).

During the month of October, the Church encourages us to pay special attention to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and our mother. Mary is a perfect witness to the two commandments: love God with all your soul and mind; love your neighbor as yourself.

Because Mary was sinless, she could love unselfishly, and she was able to give herself completely to God, to her family and to everyone she encountered (including strangers and those who were the enemies of her people).

Mary shows us the way to Love Everlasting. She points the way to her divine Son, Jesus, and she intercedes for us when we struggle to find our way.

The Church teaches that Mary’s life was characterized by an obedient faith. Obedience is another word that is often misunderstood today. Too often, it suggests a servile submission to authority rather than an openness to the will of another and a free decision to give ourselves wholeheartedly. This was Mary’s way, the way of freely chosen acceptance of God’s will for her, especially when she didn’t know all that it involved.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith, Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that ‘with God nothing will be impossible’ [Lk 1:37] and so giving her assent: ‘Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word’ [Lk 1:38; Gn 18:14]. Elizabeth greeted her: ‘Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord’ [Lk 1:45]. It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary blessed” (#148).

In the Gospel reading for next Sunday (Mt 22:34-40), the Pharisees ask Jesus which of the many commandments in the law of Moses was the most important. They were trying to trap him with what today we would call a “gotcha question,” one that pits one side of an issue against another point of view. Jesus refuses to play that game. Instead he summarizes the entire Hebrew tradition—“the whole law and the prophets” (Mt 22:40)—with the simple truth that everything that is important in life depends on unselfish, self-sacrificing love.

As Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, a native son of our archdiocese, has written: “A mature Christian life is always lived for others, and never for self. Just as Mary had a mission from God, so do each of us. As Mary’s mission was centered on Jesus Christ, so it is for each of us. Mary is a symbol of self-offering and dedication to God and the spiritual life. The practice of making a gift of one’s self is central to our Christian life. Christ made a gift of himself to all the world through the Incarnation, expressed most lovingly and completely as he offered himself up on the cross for our redemption. Every Christian who is serious about his or her faith is to also make a gift of self to God and to others.”

To love God absolutely (with all our soul and mind) and to love ALL others as we love ourselves is impossible unless we surrender our lives and give up our selfishness and sin.

Each baptized Christian is called to be obedient to God’s will. This means listening prayerfully to God’s word as it is spoken to us in sacred Scripture, in the sacraments and in our encounters with Christ through generous service to others. And it means following Mary’s example by saying “yes” to whatever God asks of us.

Let’s ask our Blessed Mother Mary to inspire us, and intercede for us, as we seek to discern God’s will for us. May the grace of Christ her Son make us bold enough to answer “yes” whenever we are called to give ourselves wholeheartedly to love of God and love of neighbor. †