Episode Transcript  

One

The Greatest Commandment

Have you ever heard a famous person give a lecture, and afterwards, there’s some time for Q and A? Sometimes the questions are really dumb. Sometimes people don’t even ask questions, they want to proclaim their personal agenda. But sometimes someone asks a good, thoughtful question that gives the speaker an opportunity to make a great point or clarification.

That happened once with Our Lord, someone in the audience asked a really good question. It was a scholar of the Law, and He asked Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment?”

Remember, too, that the Pentateuch, or the Torah, is jam-packed with laws. So, which one would Jesus choose? Which law would get the gold medal?

Without hesitating, Jesus responded with the law from Deuteronomy, chapter 6, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

That’s the greatest of all commandments, right there. But why does the Lord specify these three faculties of heart, soul, and mind?

Two

Kardia, Heart – Will

First of all, we’re supposed to love God with all our hearts. The Greek word for heart is Kardia, and it shows up all over the Bible. It means what resides at the center of the person, and it is from the heart that our actions come. As Jesus says earlier in Matthew, “from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy.” (Matthew 15:19).

So basically, the heart is the source of our choices, what we do, and what we say. It’s our will. And to love God with our whole heart means that all our choices, everything we choose to say or choose to do, is in service of God.

When we do an examination of conscience, that’s what we’re looking for: Did I love God with my whole heart today? Did I only choose to think, do, or say what honors Him and brings me closer to Him?

Three

Psyche – Soul/Life 

Jesus also says we’re supposed to love the Lord with all our souls. The word here is psyche, which is where we get the word psychiatry. In Latin, the word is translated as anima, which is where we get the word animation. When you do something soulfully, or you do it with animation, it means that you’re doing it with passion, with your feelings and desires. You can choose to do the right thing. Which is good. But you’re not devoting your whole soul to it unless you’re doing it with passion.

So we’re commanded to try to be not only obedient to the Lord, but enthusiastic about Him. We’re supposed to be fired up about the Gospel, to desire God and want to do His will.

And the truth is, if we meditate daily on the beauty of the Lord and what He has done, we will respond with enthusiasm, our souls will be filled with the passion of desire and appreciation. And then we will be loving the Lord not with our will but with our feelings and emotions as well. 

Four

Dianoia – Mind/Thoughts

Finally, Jesus tells us to love the Lord with all our mind. Here the word is Dianoia, and it means thinking. We have to make the right decisions, we have to encourage the right feelings, but we also have to discipline our thoughts.

St. Paul emphasizes this regularly. For instance, when he says, “Take every thought captive to Christ” (II Cor 10:5) Or when he says, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil 4:9).

We’re not fulfilling the greatest commandment, we’re not loving the Lord with our whole minds, if we try to act conscientiously but we let our minds be taken up with ugly things. 

Five

The Interior Path to Love: Thinking, Choosing, and Changing What We Feel 

If we want to love God with all our mind, heart, and soul, where do we begin? In daily meditation, like we’re doing here in the Rosary, we take time to actively think about what Jesus is teaching and what He is asking us to do. Then we notice the gap between His Word and our life. That moment of recognition should convict us, “Wow, I need to change. I need to do this.”

So we make a resolution: one concrete action we’ll take today to respond to Jesus’ call. It might be holding our tongue, praying before a meal, visiting someone who is lonely, or offering a hidden sacrifice. Each time we act, especially when we don’t feel like it, we are training our hearts to follow our minds.

And over time, those little acts of thinking and choosing begin to heal our feelings. Our soul starts to desire what is true and good. We begin to want to pray, to serve, to forgive, to adore. This is how we fulfill the greatest commandment, not by waiting to feel love for God, but by thinking rightly, choosing firmly, and trusting patiently that our feelings will be converted by the leaven of grace.

May Our Lady, the woman who works with the Holy Spirit to make us receptive to the divine leaven, grant that we become like her, and fulfill the greatest commandment in everything we think, feel, and do.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.

• Do you love the Lord with all your mind? How often do you watch, read, or talk about things that are dishonorable? What content do you need to cut out of your life? What do you need to stop thinking about?

• Spend time each day reflecting on the Word of God in the Bible in order to foster a deep love of His works in your heart.

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