In a brief biography of St. Francis of Assisi, G. K. Chesterton begins
with a glimpse into the heart of this unique and compassionate man born in the
12th century. Chesterton writes: “As St. Francis did not love humanity but men,
so he did not love Christianity but Christ. . . . The reader cannot even begin
to see the sense of a story that may well seem to him a very wild one, until he
understands that to this great mystic his religion was not a thing like a
theory but a thing like a love-affair.”
When Jesus was asked to name the greatest command in the Law, He
replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matt.
22:37-38). The questioner wanted to test Jesus, but the Lord answered him with
the key element in pleasing God. First and foremost, our relationship with Him
is a matter of the heart.
If we see God as a taskmaster and consider obedience to Him as a burden,
then we have joined those of whom the Lord said, “I have this against you, that
you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4).
The way of joy is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind.
“Put God first and you’ll find a joy that lasts”. (RBC)
