DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
First of
All Commandments: St. Mark 12:28-37, especially vss.
29, 30: “vvvHear, O
The Rabbis point out that the six words of the “Shema” are “the best-known words in
Judaism’s liturgy, the ‘watchword’ of
Seeing that this “first of all the commandments” enjoins
upon us the task “to go forward to the perfection of love and to learn to
know Him Who is truly beloved,” St. Basil the Great warns, “it is
not the privilege of any chance person” to attain this goal, but belongs
only to “him who has already ‘put off the old man, which is being
corrupted through its deceptive lusts, and has put on the new man’ (Eph.
4:22,24), which is being renewed that it may be recognized as an image of the
Creator.” The “Shema” is not theory, but a way to live.
Let us understand that we committed ourselves to this work of
“learning to know Him Who is truly beloved” when we chose to be
“buried with [the Lord Jesus] through Baptism into death, that just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). God is very frank with us: He is ready
to transform all who are Baptized into the Mystery of
Christ and offers to each the opportunity to “be a partaker of [His]
Resurrection” so long as each one preserves “the gift of Thy
Holy Spirit,” and increases “the measure of grace committed unto
him.” Such is not the
privilege of any chance person, but of those who take the Lord’s yoke
upon themselves to labor (Mt. 11:29).
St. Basil emphasizes this very truth but with a caution: “as much
love as you shall have squandered on lower objects, that much will necessarily
be lacking to you from the whole.”
In other words, “he who loves money and is aroused by the
corruptible beauty of the body and esteems exceedingly this little glory here,
since he has expended the power of loving on what is not proper, he is quite
blind in regard to the contemplation of Him Who is truly beloved.” The Lord insists that we “shall
love [Him] with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, with all [our] mind, and
with all [our] strength” (Mk. 12:30; Deut. 6:5).
Fickle as we are, how can we possibly do
this? We cannot love when ordered
to do so. Understanding this, St.
Basil encourages us: “we did not learn to love God as a result of outside
instruction. In the very nature of
every human being has been sown the seed of the ability to love. Welcome this seed, cultivate it
carefully, nourish it attentively, and foster its growth by going to the
May my prayer draw near to Thee, O Lord. Grant me Thy holy seed, that I might
bring Thee a harvest of sheaves abundant in good fruits and say, “Glory
to Thee Who givest me
life.”
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