“Teacher, in the Law, what is the great commandment?” (Matthew 22:34-40)
Biblical reflections by Mauro Leonardi*, priest and writer
Jesus confirms that the only true law with respect to God is to live by trying to freely give the same love that one freely received from the Father: in fact God does not want us to be servants but friends and children and co-heirs, in Christ, of that life which in the Trinity it consists of a continuous exchange and mutual and fruitful testimony of love.
From the Gospel according to Matthew 22:34-40
At that time, the Pharisees, having heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together and one of them, a doctor of the Law, questioned him to test him: «Teacher, in the Law, what is the great commandment? ». He answered him: «"You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind". This is the great and first commandment. The second then is similar to the one: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
* Mauro Leonardi (Como 1959) è sacerdote dal 29 maggio 1988 e da allora abita a Roma. Passa molte ore della sua giornata a fare il prete e predilige costruire ponti piuttosto che innalzare muri. Da anni scrive racconti, articoli, saggi e libri che ruotano intorno al rapporto tra l’uomo e Dio. Autore del blog Like Jesus. Abelis (Lindau) is his latest novel. The volunteers of the Gionata project thank him for sharing these reflections on the word with us.
