For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/022908.shtml
This is a pretty straightforward Gospel. There is mutual agreement between the scribe and Jesus regarding the greatest commandments. Reducing the law to two commandments is not saying that the other commandments are any less important, only that in obeying these two commandments you are not far from obeying them all. More importantly, since Jesus refers to being close to the kingdom of God, He is saying that if you obey these two commandments you are not far from recognizing Him as the Son of God nor from recognizing in the paschal events the mystery of man’s redemption.
We must only refuse to ‘water down’ these two great commandments, and we will be close to the kingdom of God. Lest we think we are close without actually being close, we must not confuse loving God with all our hearts, minds and strength with simply keeping Him as a priority for our lives. The commandment says that it is not enough for our love of God to simply ‘trump’ all our other loves; no, our love of God must be total, which means there is no second place nor is their room for any part of us not to love God. In the same way, loving our neighbors as ourselves does not simply mean being kind and generous to them. No, it means believing that their lives are as real and as important as our own, and in many instances, sacrificing our own desires to make their lives better. This, as we all know, is much harder than it sounds. That is why it is easier to say we are close to the kingdom of God than for us to actually be close.
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