“You Shall Love Your
Neighbor As Yourself”,
Why and How?
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We Christians all know by heart the new commandment of love
given to us by Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. It teaches us to love our neighbor as
ourselves.[1]
Naturally we love ourselves more than we love others. Newborn children already show their
selfishness by asking all people around them to satisfy whatever they
need. They turn to be the center of
concern and service of their parents and family members. This mentality of “Me First” keeps growing up
to become a second nature.
Selfish tendency has permeated all aspects of life to the
point that people just tolerate it and seldom do they
think of getting rid of it as a must on the way to Christian holiness.
But Christ our Lord and Savior tells us to practice this love
of neighbor the way we love God our Father in heaven.
Saint John teaches that “if
anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love a brother whom he has
seen cannot love God Whom he has not seen.”
Why should I love my neighbor?
I should love my neighbor because God made them the way God
made you and me: God made us in His image.
So I see the image of God, my Father in heaven, in you and in them, no
matter who they are, what color their skin is, what cultural, political or
religious their belief is.
I am proud of being children of God. This implies my obligation to make my
Heavenly Father proud of me who always try the best of my best to do the Holy
Will of Him Who is kind and merciful and forgiving to all people, the good and
the bad alike:
“He makes His sun rise on
the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”[2]
“Love your neighbor as yourself”
means that I
recognize people around me as my own sisters and brothers because we have one
same Father, Who is our God and Creator.
God loves them the way God loves me. They are given a human dignity as I am given
a human dignity.
They have same human rights as I have mine.
They have their dreams to pursue as I have mine to make them
come true.
They have their stories to tell as I have mine to tell.
In other words, only when I love my neighbor as myself can I
be worthy of being children of God.
When I love my neighbor the way Christ my Lord and Savior has
loved them, can I have good reason for being worthily called Christian. Amen.
Fr. Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Nhut, O.P.
