How do we love our neighbor as ourselves? We pray for them, we serve them, and we want for them what we want for ourselves. Want to truly love your neighbor as God commands? What about desiring more for them than you do for yourself? How do we love our neighbor as ourselves?
We ask God to bless them and give them every good and perfect gift. We hope for them what we hope and pray for those we love the most in the world—all of it, everything. We do not judge, gossip, covet, or harm in any way. We ask God to show us how to do this, since with some neighbors, it will be much more difficult than others.
How do we love our neighbor who is difficult to love? How do we pray for the neighbor we struggle to care for or even like? Not with a holier-than-thou, “Lord change them” prayer or “Lord, this person needs some fixin’.” No, we pray for them to be blessed. We pray for them as we would ourselves and those we love most in the world. Again, we pray for them to receive every good and perfect gift. We ask for them to receive everything God has for us and more.
How do we love God and neighbor with all of our hearts, minds, and souls? We beg for Jesus’ heart to replace our stony hearts so we can love as He does. We seek the grace to see everyone with His eyes through prayer, living a sacramental life, and reading the Scriptures – embracing our differences and always wishing the good of the other. We pray for them and for ourselves, trusting God will never ask for the impossible.
The secret and source of true holiness and joy come from this simple formula of faith: to love God first, others second, and ourselves last, but to love everyone with all we have and all we have to give, knowing that if we do that, the Spirit will do the rest and infinitely more!
Daily Reading
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Dt 4:1-2, 6-8 Moses said to the people:“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decreeswhich I am teaching you to observe,that you may live, and may enter in and…
Saint of the Day
Saint Anna the Prophetess
Saint Anna the Prophetess recognized Jesus’s significance when many overlooked Him. She stood by Mary, embodying grace, guiding her during formative years.
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