During the Angelus, Benedict XVI comments on Jesus ' teaching on the "greatest commandment, the commandment of love". Looking at the other "with the eyes of God" captures the deep desire to be loved and " by opening myself to the other person, just as he or she is, by reaching out, by making myself available, I am also opening myself up to know God, to feel that He is there and is good ".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable and are in mutual relationship" because on the one hand looking at the other "with the eyes of God" captures the deep desire to be loved, and " by opening myself to the other person, just as he or she is, by reaching out, by making myself available, I am also opening myself up to know God, to feel that He is there and is good ".

The  "commandment of love" of this Sunday's Gospel was the focus of Benedict XVI's address to 50 thousand people in St. Peter's square for the Angelus, despite the rainy day.

The passage from the Gospel of Mark (MK 12.28 -34) "the teaching of Jesus about the greatest commandment, the commandment of love, which is twofold: love God and love neighbour. The Saints, whom we have recently celebrated, all together in a single solemn Feast, are precisely those who, trusting in God's grace, try to live according to this fundamental law. In fact, those who live a profound relationship with God, just as the child becomes capable of loving from a good relationship with his mother and father, may put the commandment of love fully into practice".

"If the love of God has planted deep roots in a person, then he is able to love even those who do not deserve it, as does God toward us. The father and mother do not love their children only when they deserve love: they love them always, though of course, they make them understand when they are wrong. From God we learn to want only the good and never the bad. We learn to look at each other not only with our eyes, but with the eyes of God, which is the gaze of Jesus Christ. A gaze that starts from the heart and does not stop at the surface, that goes beyond appearances and manages to capture the deepest desires of the other: to be heard, caring attention; in a word: love. But there is also the reverse: that by opening myself to the other person, just as he or she is, by reaching out, by making myself available, I am also opening myself up to know God, to feel that He is there and is good".

"Love of God and love of neighbour are inseparable and are in mutual relationship. Jesus did not invent one nor the other, but revealed that they are, after all, a single commandment, and did so not just by Word, but especially with his testimony: the person of Jesus and all his mystery embody the unity of love of God and neighbour, like the two arms of the cross, vertical and horizontal. In the Eucharist He gifts us this twofold love, gifting Himself, because, nourished by this bread, we love one another as He has loved us".

 

 

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