St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in Kingman recently shared a reflection on the command to love God and love others with our entire heart. 

The Rev. Victor Yakubu noted that our society talks about love a great deal; and it is, in fact, everywhere that we look. But that is only one side of the story. 

“Hatred often creeps into human life and things do not add up as expected," Yakubu said in the church's Oct. 25 bulletin. "The world today needs love as we see pictures of violence and terrible inhuman acts perpetrated by human beings capable of loving and being loved.”

Religion should make us better, but we must also realize that even those of us who are religious will make mistakes. This is not the fault of the religion. One such example is the Jews. 

“When we consider how the Jews have been treated inhumanely in history, we feel sympathetic toward their cause: to live in a land that is theirs and be at peace with their neighbors,” Yakubu said. “A mixture of past and recent events indicates that they struggle against all odds to be recognized as a people with rights and privileges just like any other in the world. We can make it easy by recognizing everybody as created in the image and likeness of God.” 

The Jews knew the commands to love others, and the Pharisees certainly knew the Shema as well, but they asked Jesus about it to test him. He took it a further step and said that we must love our neighbors as ourselves. 

“The spirit of love supersedes any kind of feeling one can imagine under the earth,” Fr. Yakubu said. “By loving your neighbor, you shall conquer all fears and be the light that shines in darkness. Will you be that ambassador of love?”