The Grammar of Love: Fidelity and the Greatest Commandment

Ruth 1:1.3-6.14b-16.22, Psalm: 145, Mt 22:34-40

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

In the face of life’s trials, of loss, and of the countless commandments and expectations that weigh upon us, the Word of God today offers us a profound comfort and a stunning clarity. It does not give us a complex rulebook, but a simple grammar—a divine syntax—for a life of meaning and salvation. Through the beautiful story of Ruth and the piercing words of Christ, God reveals that the entire law, the entire purpose of our existence, is written in the language of love.

Our first reading plunges us into a scene of devastating loss. Naomi is empty. She has lost her husband and her two sons in a foreign land. She is a symbol of human grief and powerlessness. Believing God’s hand has turned against her, she urges her Moabite daughters-in-law to leave her, to return to the security of their old gods and families. One, Orpah, does the sensible thing. She kisses her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth—Ruth does something extraordinary, something that defies all human logic.

She clings to her.

In one of the most moving speeches in all of Scripture, Ruth speaks a language that transcends blood, nationality, and even practical survival. “Wherever you go, I will go,” she vows. “Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” This is more than loyalty; this is hesed—that rich Hebrew word for covenantal, steadfast, merciful love. Ruth’s love is a verb. It is an active, self-giving, and faithful choice. She does not just feel affection; she commits her entire life, her future, and her faith to Naomi and to Naomi’s God. In her loving fidelity to a broken woman, Ruth becomes an unwitting instrument of God’s providence, setting in motion the lineage that would lead to King David and, ultimately, to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Centuries later, a lawyer stands before the Son of David, the fulfillment of Ruth’s faith, and asks a question loaded with legalism: “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He is looking for a ranking, a loophole, a way to simplify a complex system of 613 laws. But Jesus, like Ruth, transcends the question. He doesn’t give a single rule; he gives the key to reading all of reality.

He quotes the Shema from Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first movement of love: an absolute, total, and radical orientation of our entire being toward God. It is the vertical axis of the Cross. But immediately, without pause, He adds a second, from Leviticus: “The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The horizontal axis. And He states solemnly: “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

“The second is like it.” Pope Benedict XVI beautifully explained that “love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable… They are two aspects of a single precept.” We cannot truly love the God we do not see if we fail to love the neighbor we do see. And we cannot sustain a truly self-giving love for our neighbor unless it is rooted in and draws strength from the infinite fountain of God’s love for us.

This is the grammar of heaven. The story of Ruth is the lived example of this commandment. Her love for Naomi, a vulnerable neighbor, was the very expression of her newfound love for Naomi’s God. She loved with her feet by walking with her, with her hands by working for her, and with her heart by binding her life to hers.

So what does this mean for us in the daily grind of our lives?

Perhaps you feel like Naomi: empty, grief-stricken, wondering where God is in your hardship. The Scripture comforts you today: God’s providence is often hidden, working through the steadfast, loving presence of the people He places beside you. Your ‘Ruth’ may be a friend, a family member, or a member of this parish community who refuses to let you walk alone.

Or perhaps you are called to be Ruth. To look past the practical, sensible choice and make the courageous choice to cling to someone in their need. To love not just in sentiment, but in action—with a phone call, a meal, a patient ear, a commitment of time. This is how we love God “with all our soul.” As St. Teresa of Ávila famously said, “Christ has no body now but yours, no hands but yours.”

The world offers us a grammar of self-interest, division, and conditional love. Christ, reflected in the faithful love of Ruth, offers us a new syntax: total love for God, expressed in practical love for neighbor. This is not a burden; it is the path to true freedom and joy.

Let us ask for the grace this week to practice this grammar. To make one concrete choice to love God by actively loving someone He has placed in our path. In doing so, we will not only fulfill the law; we will become living witnesses to the God who is Love itself. Amen.