THE ULTIMATE COMMANDMENT

Jesus was asked a great question, what is the ultimate commandment? In His answer, LIFE is found.

The ultimate commandment is, “hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” There is no greater commandment than these. (Mark 12:28-31)

These commandments of love encapsulates both Eternal Life and an abundant life in the here and now where we temporarily live. Living up to these two commandments is the secret of life. The Law of Moses comprises more than 600 commandments or precepts, but Jesus reveals that they are all summarized in just those two.

Jesus said that he who keeps these two commandments is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven. Truly, if we apply them in our daily lives, we shall reach the summit of an abundant life, even in the face of suffering in our temporary home here on earth.

Now, what happens to us and what are the results of not honoring these two commandments in our life? The truth is that life becomes chaotic, a path full of pain and death; death of relationships, death of prosperity, death of security. Let us weigh the meaning of the first commandment, to Love God with all our heart, above all things. Here we are taught that, if we love something or someone more than God, we are attached to the earthly and temporal more than to God and the endless. Jesus said, “do not store up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them, where thieves break through walls and steal. Layup treasures in Heaven, where moth does not gnaw and rust does not destroy, where thieves do not break through walls and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

What happens when we lose something or someone? If our treasure was there, we fall apart because of our attachment to it. We allowed that object or person to become our god. This includes our most loved ones; mother, children, spouse, grandparent, great friend. It is very natural to suffer for those we love, but if we honor the first commandment to Love God above our loved ones, we will find strength and comfort in God, who is our Rock and our Infinite Love; this attachment is what Jesus spoke of in Luke 14:26.

If God Almighty is our greatest love, therein lies the secret of living in Faith and Hope. Thus, we can understand why the saints gave everything, even their lives because God was their greatest love. This is why we can understand St. Paul when he says, “I can do all things through Jesus, who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). God told the people of Israel on several occasions in the Old Testament not to make false gods, and many only interpret this as referring to the images of ancient gods, such as the Egyptians did who had many gods. Catholics are criticized for having images of Saints and of our Mother, claiming that these are our gods and that we worship them, when the Church and its doctrine never teaches us to worship a statue or image, we simply venerate them. For example, when I see pictures of my mother, may she rest in peace, they bring back fond memories and gratitude, but I do not worship an image on a piece of paper, but what her image means, inspires me to love God more as she loved Him. That is venerating. Therefore, if we become attached to the gods of pleasure, addictions, or money (materialism), we are not living the first commandment. For this reason, if we fail in this first commandment, we are certainly not living an abundant life; on the contrary, it is a life of suffering, a life of up and down and of pain. If we do not change, we will end up in eternal death, which is separation from the abundant life we are meant to live for not listening to God and ignoring His Love for us.

The second commandment is similar because both require love as a priority. To love your neighbor as yourself is what Jesus asked and continues asking from us. He said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have Loved you. In this way love one another.” (John 13:34). The works of those who love God are reflected here. Whoever fulfills the first commandment, undoubtedly fulfills the second, because they already practice love. To love your neighbor is to hurt no one, to forgive, to help the needy, and to be willing to sacrifice oneself for one’s brother, as Jesus showed until His death on the cross, which was for the Love of sinners. He said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13); this is the opposite of attachment. Attachment come naturally to us, loving the other is not natural but supernatural and only possible through the Grace of God.

Today, there are millions of brothers and sisters in the world suffering because they do not have God in their lives and if we do not show them our love so that they may know the Love of God, they will continue on the path of death. If that does not move us to act, then there is a serious problem with attachment, even if we say we are believers and go to church what are we attached to in those actions. For if there are no works as a result of our faith and gratitude to God the Father for showing us His Love through His only Son, we are in danger of not entering the Kingdom of Heaven. However, whoever applies these two ultimate commandments is close to the Gate of Heaven and living an abundant life, despite all that they may face. Today, the Church has a great need for true servants and for us to be generous in our support of the needs the Church has to maintain the message of Salvation to the world.

I want to thank the generosity of those who receive this letter and do their part to financially support ESNE’s continuous expansion of God’s message and its relevance to you.

I also thank all those who supported the last Metanoia, where we shared testimonies of Jesus’ transforming power. Thank you to those who attended and worked so hard to bring those souls to an encounter with Jesus by loving your neighbor as yourself. We continue to invite you to become disciples of the Lord and say “I am the 73rd” through Consecration to Jesus Christ. Join us and register for this antidote to death by calling (818) 912-5842 or emailing us at info@iam73.net

Lord, I entrust to you each one of my brothers and sisters who have this letter in their hands today, so that we may live, following your example, a total Love for God the Father and for our neighbor. Blessed Mother of Guadalupe, be our strength and intercede always for each of our loved ones. Amen.

Your friend and servant,