Holy Resurrection
YouTube
Love of Neighbor: The Visible Field of Love for the Invisible God
7:02
What the video says
The video explains that the second commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself is like the first commandment to love God, because love for God naturally extends to love for His creatures. Christ's teaching expands the concept of neighbor to all humanity, even enemies, and makes love the visible expression of love for the invisible God.
The works of love are detailed, and love is described as the health and salvation of the soul, while hatred is sickness and destruction. The two commandments of love are the greatest, upon which all the law and prophets hang, and Christ's revelation of them is the ultimate benefit to mankind.
Key moments
- The second commandment is like the first: it concerns love, but for God's creatures rather than the Creator; loving one's mother strengthens love for siblings, just as loving God leads to loving humanity as brethren.
- Whoever loves God easily loves men as brothers in God; whoever does not love God can only deceive himself about loving others, possessing at best a vague pity rooted in self-pity.
- Christ gives a new commandment to love one another as He loved us; it is new because spoken by Him who manifested the greatest love, and because the meaning of neighbor extends beyond Jews to all mankind.
- Love your enemies, for God shines on both the good and the evil; our task is to love all for the sake of God's love, leaving judgment to Him.
- Neighbors are the visible field upon which we manifest love for the invisible God; God is moved by our love for neighbors as a mother is moved by a stranger's love for her child.
- The apostle John calls anyone who claims to love God while hating his brother a liar; neighbors are a school training us in perfect love of God.
- The chief works of love are mercy, forgiveness, prayer for others, support for the weak, humbling the proud, admonishing the unrighteous, instructing the ignorant, concealing shortcomings, praising virtues, defending the oppressed, and sacrificing one's life.
- All faithful are members of Christ's body; we must assist one another's growth, for when one member prospers the whole body benefits, and when one suffers the whole body suffers.
This post presents an excerpt from a homily by St. Nikolaj Velimirović on the 15th Sunday after Pentecost (Matthew 22:35–46), explaining why Christ calls the second great commandment—love your neighbor as yourself—like unto the first. The homily argues that the two commandments are inseparable because love for God naturally overflows into love for His creatures, just as love for one's mother strengthens love for one's siblings.
Whoever loves God easily loves human beings as his brothers in God; whoever does not love God can only deceive himself about loving others, possessing at best a vague pity rooted in self-pity. Christ expanded the meaning of neighbor beyond one's own people to all mankind and gave a new commandment to love one another as He loved us—new because spoken by Him who manifested the greatest love, even commanding love for enemies, since God shines on both the good and the evil, leaving judgment to Him alone.
Neighbors are described as the visible field on which we show love for the invisible God; God is moved by our love for neighbors as a mother is moved by a stranger's kindness to her child. The apostle John's warning that whoever claims to love God while hating his brother is a liar underscores that neighbors are a school training us in the perfect love of God.
The homily enumerates the chief works of love—mercy, forgiveness, prayer for others, supporting the weak, instructing the ignorant, defending the oppressed—and closes with the image of the faithful as members of one body in Christ, called to assist one another's growth, since when one member prospers or suffers, the whole body shares in it.
The post accompanies a video presentation of the homily and includes parish support links; no substantive discussion appears in the comments.
Main points
- The second commandment is like the first: love for God naturally extends to love for His creatures as brothers.
- Without love of God, supposed love of others is at best self-pity; the apostle John calls such a person a liar.
- Christ's command to love enemies is new because He manifested the greatest love; judgment belongs to God alone.
- Neighbors are the visible field where love for the invisible God is shown; the chief works of love are mercy, forgiveness, prayer, and defense of the oppressed.
- The faithful are members of one body in Christ: when one member prospers or suffers, the whole body shares in it.