In the Gospel today, Jesus teaches us that the greatest commandment is love. But the Scribes and Pharisees forgetting the real spirit behind the Ten Commandments were laying heavy emphasis on the letter of the law of the Commandments.

The Commandments were given to establish our loving relationship with God and with one another. But the people failed to understand this loving relationship and were stuck only with the letter of the law. As a consequence, the law was not able to affect the inner transformation in the lives of the people.

Knowing this fact very well Jesus summarises all the Ten Commandments and the teaching of the prophets as loving God and loving our neighbour. Jesus gives equal importance to the relationship with God, which is the vertical dimension and our neighbour, which is the horizontal dimension.

We find these two dimensions perfectly combined and blended in the person of Jesus Himself. His faithful love for His Father was expressed by His dying on the Cross for our salvation, that is, our love for God and God's love for us. Christianity is a religion of relationships. Our relationship with God and with our neighbour adds meaning to our lives.