In today's Gospel passage, the response of the scribe surprised Jesus who said to him: "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." Here, we see Jesus radically modify the Jewish 1st commandment by including love of one's neighbour (Lev. 19:18). For Jesus, the love of God and love for neighbour are two aspects of the same commandment. The living out of this commandment surpasses the offering of burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Hos.6:6). So when we surrender ourselves to God's love, we are able to love others (Gal.5:14). Such liberating love frees us of our selfishness and offers ourselves to love others (1 Jn 4:10-11).

We are challenged to live this commandment and recognize the truth that we can only love God in and through our love for others, even our enemies. Are we witnesses to this truth?

Paul in his letter to Timothy stressed on the importance of relying on the ever-faithfulness of God and we are to reciprocate the love of God by trusting God always.

How often we have failed in this relationship? We pray for the grace to be grateful always by loving others as a response to God's unconditional love for us.

This requires us to imbibe in us Gods mercy and compassion in all our relationships and to go beyond our own needs in order to be able to make sacrifices for the good of others.