When asked which is the first and the greatest of all the commandments, Jesus replied,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Mk 12:30

Jesus gave a very simple answer to this question. It’s so simple, so obvious, and yet so ignored by most Christians. Most of us are frauds. In this category, I include myself.

Why do I say this? Well, how would we act if we truly loved God above all else? How would we act differently?

For one thing, I think we would enthusiastically spend time with Jesus at every chance!

The Mass is the highest form of worship; it was literally spoken into existence by Jesus Himself. This makes the Eucharist an inestimable treasure, literally the highest form of intimacy and worship possible. If we actually loved Him with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind, and with all our strength, then wouldn’t we all – at the very least – go to Mass every day? Why aren’t the daily Masses at our parishes packed full of people every single day?  They literally take only 30 minutes. That’s a measly 2% of our day. If we love someone ABOVE ALL ELSE, wouldn’t we give Him AT LEAST 2% of our day? 

If we loved Him above all else, wouldn’t we find ourself thinking about Him constantly? Wouldn’t we be constantly longing to be near Him? Wouldn’t we genuinely look forward to the next time we could be with Him?

If we had the ability to talk to Him – our first and supreme love – whenever we wanted, wouldn’t we be talking to Him (prayer) nonstop throughout the day? Wouldn’t we be constantly sneaking away to spend a few minutes with Him?

Eucharist
If you wanted to be close to Jesus, you would be. If you’re not, it’s because you don’t want to be. It’s just that simple.

If we loved Him above all else, wouldn’t we spend our days joyfully following the example of His life? Wouldn’t we naturally have a heart for service, a heart full of compassion and love?

But to love Him in such a way as that, we’d certainly need to know Him really well. To know Him means that we’d have a real, genuine, authentic relationship with Him.

Do you have such a relationship?

Seriously, this is not rocket science. If you kept the simplest and most basic commandment to love Him with “all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength,” how would your daily life look different? Are you seriously telling me that you don’t have 2% of your day to give to the love of your life? You don’t have 30 minutes to invest in the best and most important relationship conceivable?

Here’s a little mental test to see if you truly don’t have time for 30 minutes a day. It’s the thought that motivated me to begin to attend daily Mass 30 years ago: If I told you that I would give you $10 million if you simply sat in a church for 30 minutes everyday for a year would you do it? If you would do that but you don’t invest that kind of time in your relationship with Christ, what does that say about what you love the most?

This thought made things clear for me. I hope it does the sam for you.

In the Gospels, Jesus tells us that it is possible to have a real relationship with Him. He also tells us that such a relationship is necessary for our ultimate happiness.

I am here to tell you the same thing! Yes. I am here to attest that you will get exactly the kind of relationship you want with Him. If you neglect this relationship, then that’s on YOU, not Him. He is present and always wanting to love you. To have a great relationship, all you have to do is INVEST in that relationship.

To invest, first and foremost, why not make time to go to DAILY MASS? Jesus literally told us to “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Eucharist is the highest form of prayer, the source and summit of the Christian life. It’s also available every single day in most parts of the world.

Did you know that if you simply went to Mass every day, you would read and reflect upon about 85% of the bible every three years? That’s without any other outside study.

If you truly wanted to be close to Him, you would be. If you’re not, face it: It’s due to your own indifference and laziness.

That is the Truth. He loves you but He can’t make you love Him.

It’s a hard truth, but it’s still the truth.