1. Two commands.
The commands of Christ can be summarised into two. Though there are more than 80 commands they can be summarised into, first, Love of God. And secondly, love of neighbour. These two commands are necessary for salvation. We must obey them. In preaching we must preach both commands. What must be preached is clear. We shall discuss how to preach each command.
2. Love of God and neighbour.
To be saved, I must know these two commands of Christ and I must obey them. How do I love God? Christ said; if you love Me keep My commandments. There you have it. To love God is to know His commands and to obey them.
So we must first know His commands, about 80 of them and summarised into ‘Love of God.’ And before we can obey them we must know how to obey them. We cannot obey those commands in any way we want. We must obey them in exactly the way He wants us to obey them.
The way to obey them is not completely described in the New Testament. Most of how they should be obeyed is found in Tradition. Thus, we have to go to the Fathers of the Church.
After knowing the commands of Christ and after obeying them in the way described by the Fathers of the Church…..then we can say that we love God.
Now, if we examine what those commands of Christ are it will be noticed that they are acts of goodness towards one’s neighbour. The only command that pertains to God is to worship him. The other commands are doing good things towards one’s neighbour.
So it should be clear that love of God and love of neighbour are identical. Let us take an example. Love of God is obedience to His command, like ‘Do not commit adultery.’ I obey this command if I love God with all my mind, all my heart and all my strength. See, I show my love for God by loving Him with all my faculties.
Now, how do I love my neighbour? By not leaving my wife and children and looking for another wife and other children. See, how identical love of God is to love of neighbour. In loving God and neighbour I avoid committing adultery.
My love for God is not really visible. But my love for neighbour is visible. Since these are identical as shown above, when I see my neighbour loving his wife and children, then I know that he, also, love God because love of God and neighbour, if both are done properly are identical.
3. How do parents save their children.
Let us briefly see how parents save their children by preaching to them. How? As Christ said; by pairs or two by two. Here is an ideal situation.
A Catholic couple trains their son well. So the boy grows up loving God and loving neighbour. How did that happen? The husband, being head of the family taught the boy the commands of Christ and taught him. also, the correct interpretation of those commands. Then, the husband and the wife loved each other and by their example showed the boy how to love his neighbour.
So the young boy learns how to love God by learning the commands of Christ from the words of the Father. And learns how to love his neighbour from the example of his father’s love for his mother.
Remember, the love of God can be taught alone by the father. But the love of neighbour must be taught by the father by showing his love for his mother. So, they are preaching two by two. It is difficult for the father to show his love for God to his son. But it is easy for the him to show his son the love he has for his wife.
Since the expression of love of God and neighbour is identical, when hearers see the preacher loving his parish, the hearers know that the preacher, also, loves God. Thus he learns theory and practice at the same time.
4. The cause of family problem.
If the father and mother love God and each other, St.Augustine wrote, this means that they love God and all men. Men, here, includes the husband and wife, the children, the nephews, the neighbours and their enemies. St. Augustine wrote; if you love one neighbour perfectly, you love all men.
Since the father and mother love God and neighbour, these two commands are easily transferred to the children. The children transfers it to their children, etc. etc. They would be a whole line of saints.
The problem begins when one loves God and neighbour and the other does not. They will not be able to preach to their children because they are no longer pairs or two by two. Its only one parent.
It is worse if both do not love God and each other. The whole line following after would be lacking charity and, therefore, all are in danger of being damned.
5. The role of the sacrament of marriage.
The parents of St.Therese love God and neighbour. Thus they were able to train all their children to love God and neighbour. All the children were virgins in convents and candidates for canonisation. No one needed the aid of Matrimony.
But not everybody have parents who love God and neighbour. So the children are not well trained. The children find it impossible to love God and neighbour. In which case the children are in need of the Sacrament of Matrimony.
Marriage is meant to help a young boy to emotionally love a woman. When they are married both must rise from that emotional love to the higher state of Charity where they love God and neighbour. Marriage is an emotional help to enable the husband to love his wife in the Christian way. Matrimony is the school of true Christian love for neighbour.
Wi the hope that by the time they have children, they already love God and neighbour. So they can preach to their children the right way to love God and neighbour.
Unfortunately most marriages remain in the emotional and romantic level; they are unable to rise up to true Christian love of God and neighbour. This inability is the cause of all family problems.
So what do we do? Back to basics.
6. Not all need marriage.
Marriage are for those who are unable to have true Christian love towards their neighbours. So they need temporarily emotional love as a jumping board towards Christian love. Those who do not need this aid go straight to Christian love of neighbour. Not needing marriage they become good religious or priests.
Again we have this problem. That most, if not all seminarians and religious, due to lack of training, are unable to love their neighbour. In which case they should resort to Marriage lest they turn out to be bad priests or religious. If they do not resort to Matrimony early in their problems they would end up being lesbians and homos. Treated early they merely end up as normal married couples.
7. The Gospel of the 14th Sunday in Ordinary time states that preachers should go in pairs or two by two.
One preacher preaching ALL the commandments of Christ and HOW to obey them. Now, how will the preacher demonstrate the Love of neighbour? He should have companions; ‘in pairs, two by two’. In the early Christian times, St. Boniface preached with an entire community. It was in this way that he showed how he loved his community and how his community loved him. All early missionary monks did it this way.
Today, it should be the same way. A parish priest should preach all the commands of Christ and how to observe them. If he does this then his love for his parishioners will show and the love of the parishioner for him will also be evident. That is the proper way of preaching. The same goes with the Bishops.
8. Modern defect.
Most priests and bishop do not preach ALL the commands of Christ. They do not know there are more than 80 commands spread out in the three cycles of the Liturgical Year. And they do not explain how these commands should be practiced due to lack of study of the Fathers of the Church. In effect, they do not love God.
And because they do not Love God which is his pattern of love of neighbour, then he does not love his neighbour either.
A parish priest who does not love God and his neighbour; parishioners who do not love God and neighbour……..we have what Christ prophesied ‘a parish experiencing the decay of Faith and the waxing cold of Charity.’
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