How do we love God? We are commanded to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind? This is the first commandment. From an incarnational reality, what does this mean? Well, Jesus implicitly gives the answer when he says the “second is like it” (Mt 22:34-40). Jesus means that to love one’s neighbor as one’s self is like the first commandment…the two are intimately connected and cannot be separated. To know what Jesus means by ‘love of neighbor’ we can turn to other teachings of Jesus: we are called to love our enemies; and if struck on one cheek we are to offer the other cheek; we are not to retaliate, either by word or by hand (Mt 5:43-44, Mt 5:40). To give another example, we have the story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Lk 10:29-37). Jesus tells this story in response to the question he is asked: ‘Who is my neighbor’? ‘My neighbor’ in Jesus’ mind and heart is expansive, it includes everyone: my enemy, the one who thinks different or whose views are different, who acts different, the one with whom I am in most conflict with right now, and even the one who would strike me down.

 Fra Angelico,  St RomualdSaint Romuald (d. 1027)
Readings of the day: RB 15 When the Alleluia Should Be SaidMass: 1 K 21:17-29; Resp Ps 51; Mt 5:43-48

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Jesus’ words to each a

Readings of the day: RB 4:63-78Mass: Jm 4:1-10; Resp Ps 55; Mk 9:30-37
Santa Rita, Patroness of of Abuse Victims
They had been discussing among themselves who was the greatest.
St Benedict offers two Tools for Good Works today which are a response to any of us who, for one reason or another, think we a