The two greatest commandments, love God and love thy neighbor. Most of us have no problem loving God. It’s the second of the two greatest commandments, Love our neighbor, that often leaves many of us perplexed. In English, we use the same word “love” to denote two people falling in “love” and the same English word “love” when we say “love thy neighbor.” Big difference! The Greek language does a better job as it uses 7 different words to denote different kinds of Love. (loagápe, éros, philía, philautia, storgē, and xeniave). We only have one word, “Love.” Let’s not forget, the New Testament was written in Greek. The word used in today’s Gospel when Jesus says “Love neighbor” is “loagape” or “agape.” Agape is not the Greek word denoting feelings as when two people fall in love. Rather, it denotes a reality arising from the will and not the heart. The Greeks would have used the word “Eros” to mean love as a feeling and this is not the word used in the phrase, “Love our neighbor.” Jesus knew that we cannot turn on/off romantic feelings toward some strange neighbor. However by using the word agape it connotes an exercise of the will and not the heart. So, have you ever wondered how to love a neighbor as God commands us in today’s Gospel? This is your answer. Consider the circumstance of the person (neighbor) and treat that individual (neighbor) the way you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes. Act in that person’s best interests and KEEP YOUR FEELINGS OUT OF IT (at least at first)! Eventually, when we treat our neighbor in agape love (acting in their best interest no matter what you think), feelings for them will slowly trickle in and align themselves with the will and a miraculous transformation occurs. CS Lewis put it this way; “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will soon come to love him.” Think about it. Father Roach
