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If we can find ways to love each other first, then our attitudes towards each other may change together. We are neighbours in our town; we need to find ways to be one community sharing love for each other.
If we are to journey down this road of cooperation together we can begin to build foundations based on love.
Christ gave us these commandments as a means to achieve many great goals. Christ wanted us to do more than believe in him. These commandments are about doing something; they are greater than beliefs. Doing something means we willingly have to look for ways of being there for each other, of helping each other. We can then recognize separate religions as being opportunities to bring groups of people together for the common good.
The most important word in the two commandments for God and humanity is LOVE. Any union that can be achieved with love as the relationship’s foundation will be far stronger and far greater than any unity that is founded by agreeing on doctrine and authority.
As an example: if Christians seek to share communion with other Christian faiths by creating an agreement on doctrine and authority, then it seems that we are pursuing the wrong objective.
When we can say as Christians that we love each other as we love ourselves then it will be right to share communion with each other.
No single religion can own the greatest commandments. They are the commandments of God for each and every member of humanity to share if they so desire.
When we journey towards a relationship in this way, people with faith will have to make an effort to acknowledge that other people can have and also need to have conflicting beliefs; we are not created to be like sheep without a mind.
We would also have to make an effort to get along with them - especially those who we would not normally have associated with in the past.
When we can journey towards a relationship in this way we will start to understand what one loving God the parent can mean for the whole human family.
There is a need to nurture the greatest commandments to bring all cultures and all faiths willingly together. It must be a goal that we journey towards which is constantly being reviewed, always with the aim of reaching a deeper and greater relationship with more people.
Do I have the courage to stand up for what is greatest?
Do I have to do anything or can I leave it to my children’s generation to sort out?
I am under no obligation to do anything, there is no pressure to act, and I do not have a duty towards peace. If I choose to do anything it is by free choice, willingly and for the love of others. These are the best possible motives - if I want to work towards a relationship of peace, this motive will make the relationship work.
Can I speak to my fellow brothers and sisters about a relationship in this way? Can I talk to the clergy and leaders of my faith to see if they will represent me in this way? Can I pray and share community values with the people of all other religions and non-believers in the district that I live in?
Do I exercise my free choice willingly and with love to try and influence change?
I do not see this as being an easy journey to take.
I see this as being the greatest journey we can take together.
How would Christ accept this interpretation of the two greatest commandments?
I have written these words without authority from any church, because they do not appear to be in line with any of their teachings.
The greatest way to understand this story is to challenge it; always look for something greater for God and for Mankind. The truth you are looking for must be right, there cannot be a ‘probable truth’.
If you sense any truth in this story, then feel free to use any of it or all of it if you wish, as I do not desire to claim any form of copyright. Feel free to write it in a greater and clearer way.
I would welcome any comments.
Yours in peace,
Eric Hyom.
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Comments
Is Freedom of Belief Orthodox? Jean Jaindl | Apr 6th, 2004
Though I am only on p. 16, this article is, on the whole, pretty logically layed out. However, I have detected some modernist tendencies (as condemned in Pius X's encyclical Pascendi), which I would like to question. God the mother? Really, this is quite unorthodox. Also, I cannot see how you or any other Catholic can say that we should not try to convert Musilims, Hindus, atheists, etc. to the one, true faith. Certainly God created us with the freedom to believe whatever we want to believe and to do whatever we want to do. Does that mean we have a right to do so in either case? Is it not owed to God that we serve Him in the way He has planned, and to attain to Heaven and the fullness of His love through the Church which He established? If it is owed to God to be loved, honored and obeyed by individuals, how much more so must He be obeyed by society, which is made up of these individuals? It is only through conversion to the truth that there is one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church that we will achieve the social reign of Christ the King. This is very well outlined in The Social Reign of Christ the King by Fr. Fahey
-JJ
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