The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Day 2—Friday 19th January 2024

Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” (Luke 10: 27)

Help me, Lord, to receive your love, that I may make you manifest in loving well, both myself and my neighbour.

Additional scripture passages

Deuteronomy 10: 12-13

Psalm 133

Reflection

The answer Jesus draws out of the lawyer, from the well-known commandments of God, appears simple. However, the command to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind will be a constant challenge, requiring a lifelong determination to learn, reflect and seek change in ourselves through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The instruction to love our neighbours “as ourselves” demands equal consideration. To love and value ourselves as God would wish demands intimate relationship. Is God saying that we cannot love our neighbour fully unless we love ourselves?

We do not get to choose our neighbours. Sometimes we must cross difficult barriers to serve them, rather than walking by. Loving means being attentive to their needs, accepting who they are, with humility, encouraging their hopes and aspirations.

Let’s learn to celebrate difference in Christ’s unifying life, death and resurrection.

We pray for

St Philip’s Church, Stubbins.

Our neighbours.

The lonely and isolated.

We pray together

Lord, give us the grace to know you deeply,

in order to love you entirely.

May the gift of the Holy Spirit enable our eyes, ears and minds to receive the unconditional love with which you love us.

Purify our hearts that we may always be able to love our neighbour,

however different, as ourselves.

Amen

Question

How do you see yourself? How do you think God sees you?

Go and do

Resolve to get to know a new person in your road and find a loving way to engage with them.