On September 21st, 2025, Fr. Stephen Osburn preached on Christ’s answer to the lawyer: the two great commandments—love of God and love of neighbor. In Matthew 22:37–39, Christ declares that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” These words form the very foundation of the Christian life.

Love of God
Fr. Stephen began by reflecting on the first commandment: to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. This is not partial love, not compartmentalized devotion, but total surrender. Love of God is the root from which all true love grows. Without it, our love for others becomes shallow, self-serving, or fleeting.

The Church teaches us to love God not only with emotion but with our entire being. This love is cultivated in prayer, nourished in Scripture, and most fully expressed in the Divine Liturgy. In the Eucharist, we encounter Christ Himself, the Bridegroom who gives His life for us. Here love becomes communion: we are united with God, and our hearts are set aflame with His love.

Love of Neighbor
The second commandment flows directly from the first. To love God is to love those made in His image. Fr. Stephen emphasized that true love of neighbor is not mere sentiment or politeness. It is compassion, forgiveness, humility, and service. It is seeing Christ in each person, even in those who are difficult to love.

The Fathers remind us that we cannot claim to love God whom we do not see if we fail to love our brother whom we do see. Love of neighbor tests the authenticity of our love for God. It challenges us to go beyond words and to embody love in action.

Love as Communion, Not Sentiment
Fr. Stephen stressed that love is not mere feeling or sentiment. In our culture, love is often reduced to emotion or preference, but the Gospel reveals it as communion. To love is to enter into relationship, to share life, to lay down oneself for another. Christ is the model: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

This love is sacrificial. It costs us something. It may require us to forgive when wronged, to serve without recognition, to endure with patience, or to give generously. Such love is impossible by human strength alone, but through the grace of God it becomes the very path of salvation.

The Divine Liturgy as the School of Love
Fr. Stephen reminded us that the Divine Liturgy is not only worship but formation. In the Liturgy, we learn how to love. We gather as one Body, setting aside individual preferences, praying with one voice, and receiving the one Cup. Here love of God and love of neighbor intersect: we commune with God and with one another.

When we leave the Liturgy, we are sent into the world to practice what we have received. The dismissal—“Let us depart in peace”—is not an end but a commissioning. The peace of Christ we experience in the Eucharist must overflow into our homes, workplaces, and communities.

The Challenge of Virtue
To live the two great commandments requires discipline. Love does not grow accidentally but through intentional practice. Fr. Stephen challenged each of us to choose one virtue to practice more deeply in the coming week. Whether compassion, forgiveness, humility, patience, or service, each virtue is a way of embodying love.

By focusing on one virtue, we train our hearts. Just as an athlete strengthens one muscle group at a time, so a Christian strengthens the soul through consistent, intentional practice. Over time, the virtues form us into the likeness of Christ, who is Love Himself.

Obstacles to Love
Fr. Stephen also acknowledged the obstacles that hinder love. Pride makes us put ourselves first. Fear keeps us from opening our hearts. Resentment clings to past hurts. Busyness distracts us from noticing the needs of others. Yet each obstacle can be overcome through repentance and reliance on God’s grace.

The sacrament of confession becomes essential here. In confession, we bring our failures in love before Christ, who forgives and heals us. He restores our capacity to love and equips us to begin again. Far from being a source of shame, confession is a wellspring of freedom, enabling us to grow in love.

The Saints as Models of Love
The saints embody the two great commandments. Their lives reveal that love of God and neighbor is not theoretical but possible. St. Maria of Paris gave her life to serve the poor and rescue Jews during World War II, ultimately dying in a concentration camp. St. John the Almsgiver poured out his wealth in service to the needy. St. Silouan the Athonite prayed with tears for the whole world. These saints show us that love is not abstract but concrete, lived out in particular acts of mercy and devotion.

Fr. Stephen encouraged us to look to the saints not only as examples but as intercessors. They pray for us, that we too may learn to love as they loved, and that our communities may be schools of love rooted in Christ.

Love as the Fulfillment of the Law
Christ declared that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. This means that every commandment, every teaching of the Church, finds its fulfillment in love. The commandments are not arbitrary rules but expressions of love: love for God’s holiness, love for human dignity, love for community.

To live without love is to miss the heart of the Gospel. As St. Paul wrote, “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). Love gives meaning to everything else.

Conclusion
On September 21st, 2025, Fr. Stephen Osburn reminded us that the Christian life is summed up in the two great commandments: love of God and love of neighbor. This love is not sentiment but communion, not fleeting emotion but sacrificial practice. It begins in the Divine Liturgy, where we encounter Christ’s love, and it flows into daily life through compassion, forgiveness, humility, and service.

Fr. Stephen challenged us to choose one virtue to practice more deeply, so that we not only hear Christ’s words but live them. In doing so, we allow God’s love to shape us, to transform us, and to make us instruments of His Kingdom.

May we strive daily to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, so that we may fulfill the law of Christ and enter into the joy of His eternal love.