The Chain of Love: From the Cross to the Greatest Commandment

Jesus tells us the greatest commandment in the Law. When the scribe asked Him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus replied:

“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk 12:29–31).

This is clear: our lives must become love. Love of God first, and love of neighbor flowing from it. But the human heart cannot create this love on its own. We cannot fulfill this commandment by willpower or discipline alone. Love must first be received.

St. John speaks to this mystery in just a few words: “We love because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). God’s love always comes first, like sunlight that touches the earth before anything grows. Our love is always a response, never the starting point.

Diadochus of Photiké, the 5th-century bishop and mystic, unfolds the same truth:

“The measure of a man’s love for God depends upon how deeply aware he is of God’s love for him.” (On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination)

Notice what Diadochus says: God already loves us. But the movement of our own heart depends on awareness. It is the deep realization of God’s love—what He has endured for us—that ignites the fire of love in us.

This is where St. Paul gives us the lens to see that love:

“God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

Here is the great proof. Not when we were righteous. Not when we were ready. While we were sinners—cold, distracted, ungrateful—Christ offered Himself on the Cross. To look at the Passion is to see the lengths to which God has gone to love me personally. His suffering, His rejection, His death are not vague symbols. They are the concrete revelation of Love that precedes every response I could ever make.

Here is the unbroken chain:

1. We are commanded to love God and love our neighbor (Mk 12:29–31).

2. We can only love to the degree we are aware of God’s love for us (1 Jn 4:19; Diadochus).

3. We become aware of God’s love most fully by meditating on the Passion, because “while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

God always loves first and without measure. But awareness is the key that awakens our own love. And that awareness blossoms most fully at the Cross. There we see the endurance of divine love: the humility, the wounds, the blood, the death freely accepted for us. To gaze upon the crucified Christ is to become aware that we are loved beyond all telling.

And the chain works in reverse, so that it settles deep in the soul:

• To contemplate the Passion is to become aware of God’s love for us.

• To become aware of God’s love is to fall in love with Him in return.

• To love Him is to love our neighbor with the love we have received.

• To love God and neighbor is to fulfill the commandment Jesus called the greatest.

This is the movement of the Christian life. It begins not with effort but with gaze—our eyes fixed on Jesus crucified. It deepens with awareness—our hearts pierced by the knowledge that we are loved. It overflows in return—our souls loving God, and through Him, loving every neighbor He gives us.

Every act of true love traces back to the Cross. Every movement of the heart begins because God loved first. Every step forward in holiness is simply this: to see Love, to receive Love, and to become Love.

If you want, I can now expand this into a series of three meditative sections for a blog post, so each step in the chain has its own reflection for slow reading and prayer.

Do you want me to create that format next?