The true meaning of love & whose Son is Christ (Matthew 22:34-46)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and the second is to love our neighbour as ourselves. These commandments are at the heart of our faith. But what does it really mean to love God with our whole being? And how can this love become visible in our daily lives?
St. Paul gives us a beautiful description of love in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.” He reminds us that genuine love is more than words or feelings. It is revealed through our actions, our attitudes, and the way we treat one another.
Let me share a small experience that helped me reflect on this.
One summer evening, my wife and I were sitting on our porch, enjoying a cup of coffee. My wife stepped away for a moment, and a young family walked by with a beautiful little brown dog named Cookie. He was dressed so elegantly, wearing little shoes and a bow.
I smiled at Cookie and greeted him. His owner told me how much they loved him and how carefully they looked after him. Then Cookie walked slowly towards me, looked into my eyes, and suddenly jumped into my lap.
Cookie and I had a good chat for a few minutes, and it seemed that he did not want to leave me. But his owner became a bit upset and said to me, “You shouldn’t encourage him! Did you give him some treats? He has never behaved like that before!”
I replied, “I haven’t given him anything. I could offer him some coffee, but I don’t think he would like it!”
The owner was still upset. Both Cookie and I became a bit scared by what had happened. As Cookie was taken away abruptly, he looked back at me with his sad eyes, almost as though he were apologising.
That little encounter stayed with me. I found myself thinking that human beings sometimes fail to show kindness, even when they speak about love. They can become envious, boastful, or arrogant.
Cookie’s owner had spoken about how much she loved him, but her words seemed very different from her impatient response in that moment. Of course, we cannot judge someone’s whole life by one moment. But the experience made me think: Is love simply something we say, or is it something others can experience through us?
St. Paul tells us that love is patient and kind. These words invite us to look honestly at our own lives. Do our words and actions reflect the love we profess?
Jesus calls us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Why does he name all three? Because our love for God is meant to involve our whole being - our whole life.
A person may love God with their heart, yet allow their thoughts and decisions to be guided by pride, fear, or self-interest. Someone may believe in God intellectually, understand theological ideas, and discuss their faith, while their heart continues to search for meaning and security elsewhere. Another person may long for spiritual peace but struggle to let God shape the way they think, feel, and act.
Jesus invites us into something deeper: a love in which our heart, soul, and mind are brought together in God.
When these aspects of our lives become united in our relationship with God, our faith begins to transform us. Love becomes more than an idea. It becomes a way of living - and a source of healing in our lives.
But this is not always easy. Human love can become possessive or impatient. It can become arrogant or envious, and it can keep a record of the wrongs others have done to us. St. Paul describes a different kind of love: a love that is patient and kind, that rejoices in the truth, and that bears and endures.
Here is the key: by our own strength, we may struggle to live this way. But through the presence, power, words, and embrace of Jesus Christ, we receive the grace to grow in this liberating, life-giving divine love.
Where Do We Find This Divine Love?
We find this love through Jesus Christ. In him, we see God’s compassion, mercy, and self-giving love.
Through his crucifixion, we encounter the depth of that love; through his resurrection, we discover hope, newness of life, and the promise of eternal life. We may not be able to prove these realities to others, but we can experience their power in our hearts, souls, and minds.
This helps us understand why the second part of today’s Gospel matters. For us as Christians, Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and God’s presence among us. In him, we encounter the one who reveals God’s love and gives us the grace to embrace that love with our hearts, souls, and minds.
To love God with our whole being, then, is not simply to believe certain things about God. It is to allow the love revealed in Jesus Christ to shape who we are and how we live.
St. Paul reminds us in Romans 15:1 that those who are strong must bear with the failings of the weak rather than please themselves. This is an important expression of Christian love.
Love does not look down on those who struggle. It does not humiliate them or turn away because they are difficult to understand. Instead, it bears with them, supports them, and helps them become stronger.
This does not mean that we must agree with everything or ignore harmful behaviour. It means that we respond with patience, compassion, and a desire for others to experience healing, growth, and joy.
This is what Jesus does for us. He meets us in our weakness, carries us through our struggles, and gives us the grace to grow. As we receive his love, we are called to share it with others.
But an important question remains: How can we explain and define this love?
One way I understand love is this: to become one with the focus of our love, to receive its qualities, and then to share what we have received.
In other words, when God becomes the focus of our love, we open ourselves to receiving God’s qualities - his wisdom, goodness, compassion, and love. These qualities begin to shape our souls, minds, and hearts. As a result, we gain the freedom and enthusiasm to share what we have received with the people God places in our lives.
And we can also entrust to this loving God the things that weaken us: our fears, resentments, pride, and burdens. We do not have to carry them alone.
Look at the people whose lives have been transformed by their devotion to God and their pursuit of truth, beauty, wisdom, and goodness. Think of scholars, musicians, artists, designers, inventors, discoverers, sculptors, painters, managers, directors, writers, and poets.
We may not know many of these people personally. Yet the fruits of human creativity and dedication can still enrich our lives. Their work can heal, inspire, and awaken us to beauty and possibilities we may never have imagined. Through these gifts, we may find ourselves drawn closer to the God of love and invited to glimpse something heavenly here on earth.
This is one way love can bear fruit: what we receive can become a gift to others. Divine love does not end with us. It moves through us into the lives of those around us.
So, let us walk with the God of love, through his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the power of his Spirit. Let us seek to unite our hearts, souls, and minds in God’s love, so that we may continue the mission God has entrusted to us. Amen.
How to make the Anglican Rosary
Anglican Prayer Beads
A Form of Contemplative Prayer
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Anglican Prayer Beads are a relatively new form of prayer, blending the Orthodox Jesus Prayer Rope and the Roman Catholic Rosary. The thirty-three bead design was created by the Rev. Lynn Bauman in the mid-1980s, through the prayerful exploration and discovery of a contemplative prayer group.
The use of the rosary or prayer beads helps to bring us into contemplative of meditative prayer—really thinking about and being mindful of praying, of being in the presence of God—by use of mind, body, and spirit. The touching of the fingers on each successive bead is an aid in keeping our mind from wandering, and the rhythm of the prayers leads us more readily into stillness.
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Symbolism of the Beads
The configuration of the Anglican Prayer Beads relate contemplative prayer using the Rosary to many levels of traditional Christian symbolism. Contemplative prayer is enriched by these symbols whose purpose is always to focus and concentrate attention, allowing the one who prays to move more swiftly into the Presence of God.
The prayer beads are made up of twenty-eight beads divided into four groups of seven called weeks. In the Judeo-Christian tradition the number seven represents spiritual perfection and completion. Between each week is a single bead, called a cruciform bead as the four beads form a cross. The invitatory bead between the cross and the wheel of beads brings the total to thirty-three, the number of years in Jesus’ earthly life.
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Praying with the beads
To begin, hold the Cross and say the prayer you have assigned to it, then move to the Invitatory Bead. Then enter the circle of the prayer with the first Cruciform Bead, moving to the right,
go through the first set of seven beads to the next Cruciform bead, continuing around the circle,
saying the prayers for each bead.
It is suggested that you pray around the circle of the beads three times (which signifies the Trinity)
in an unhurried pace, allowing the repetition to become a sort of lullaby of love and praise that enables your mind to rest and your heart to become quiet and still.
Praying through the beads three times and adding the crucifix at the beginning or the end, brings the total to one hundred, which is the total of the Orthodox Rosary. A period of silence should follow the prayer, for a time of reflection and listening. Listening is an important part of all prayer.
Begin praying the Anglican Prayer Beads by selecting the prayers you wish to use for the cross and each bead. Practice them until it is clear which prayer goes with which bead, and as far as possible commit the prayers to memory.
Find a quiet spot and allow your body and mind to become restful and still. After a time of silence, begin praying the prayer beads at an unhurried, intentional pace. Complete the circle of the beads three times.
When you have completed the round of the prayer beads, you should end with a period of silence. This silence allows you to center your being in an extended period of silence. It also invites reflection and listening after you have invoked the Name and Presence of God.
Closing your Prayers
The following ending can be used with any of the prayers in this booklet. After three circuits around the prayer beads, you may finish as follows:
Last time through:
Invitatory Bead
The Lord’s Prayer
The Cross
I bless the Lord.
Or, in a group setting:
Let us bless the Lord
Thanks be to God.
Prayers
You may mix and match or put together your own.
Bless the Lord
The Cross
Blessed be the one, holy, and living God.
Glory to God for ever and ever. Amen.
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The Invitatory
O God make speed to save me (us),
O Lord make haste to help me (us),
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
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The Cruciforms
Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. You that stand in the house of the Lord, lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the Lord.
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The Weeks
I lift up my eyes to the hills;
From where is my help to come?
My help comes from the Lord,
The maker of heaven and earth.
The Cross
In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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The Invitatory
O God make speed to save me (us),
O Lord make haste to help me (us),
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
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The Cruciforms
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon me (us).
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The Weeks
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Have mercy on me, a sinner.
Or, in a group setting:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy upon us.
*Trisagion means "thrice Holy"
Agnus Dei Prayer
The Cross
The Lord’s Prayer
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The Invitatory
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."—Psalm 19:14
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The Cruciforms
Oh, Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world
have mercy upon us,
Oh, Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world
have mercy upon us,
Oh, Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world
give us Thy Peace.
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The Weeks
Almighty and merciful Lord,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
bless us and keep us.
Amen.
*Agnus Dei means "Lamb of God"
Julian of Norwich Prayer
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The Cross
In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Invitatory
O God make speed to save me (us),
O Lord make haste to help me (us),
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
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The Cruciforms
God of your goodness, give me yourself,
For you are enough to me.
And I can ask for nothing less that is to your glory.
And if I ask for anything less, I shall still be in want, for only in you have I all.
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The Weeks
All shall be well, and all shall be well,
And all manner of things shall be well.
Or
In His love He has done His works, and in His love He has made all things beneficial to us.
This prayer was created by Sister Brigit-Carol, S.D.
www.solitariesofdekoven.org
A Celtic Prayer
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The Cross
In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Invitatory
O God make speed to save me (us),
O Lord make haste to help me (us),
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
The Cruciforms
Be the eye of God dwelling with me,
The foot of Christ in guidance with me,
The shower of the Spirit pouring on me,
Richly and generously
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The Weeks
Pray each phrase on a separate bead.
I bow before the Father who made me,
I bow before the Son who saved me,
I bow before the Spirit who guides me,
In love and adoration.
I praise the Name of the one on high.
I bow before thee Sacred Three,
The ever One, the Trinity.
This prayer was created by Sister Brigit-Carol, S.D.
www.solitariesofdekoven.org
Come Lord Jesus Prayer
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The Cross
"Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."—Revelation 7:12
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The invitatory
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble."—Psalm 46:1
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The Cruciforms
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s Holy Name."—Psalm 103:1
The Weeks
"Come Lord Jesus, draw us to yourself."—John 12:32
Saint Patrick's Breastplate
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The Cross
I bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord.
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The Invitatory
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
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The Cruciforms
I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
The Weeks
1. I bind this day to me for ever, by power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
2. his baptism in Jordan river;
3. his death on cross for my salvation;
4. his bursting from the spicèd tomb;
5. his riding up the heavenly way;
6. his coming at the day of doom:
7. I bind unto myself today.
1. I bind unto myself the power of the great love of cherubim;
2. the sweet "Well done" in judgment hour;
3. the service of the seraphim;
4. confessors’ faith, apostles’ word,
5. the patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls;
6. all good deeds done unto the Lord,
7. and purity of virgin souls.
1. I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven,
2. the glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
3. the whiteness of the moon at even,
4. the flashing of the lightning free,
5. the whirling of the wind’s tempestuous shocks,
6. the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
7. around the old eternal rocks.
1. I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead,
2. his eye to watch, his might to stay,
3. his ear to hearken, to my need;
4. the wisdom of my God to teach,
5. his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
6. the word of God to give me speech,
7. his heavenly host to be my guard.
Words: attributed to St. Patrick (372-466)
translated by Cecil Frances Alexander, 1889
Adapted for use with Anglican Prayer Beads by Laura Kelly Campbell
An Evening Prayer
The Cross
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The Invitatory
Open my lips, O Lord,
and my mouth shall proclaim
Your praise.
The Cruciforms
Guide us waking, O Lord,
and guard us sleeping;
that awake we may watch
with Christ, and asleep
we may rest in peace.
The Weeks
Jesus, lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, give us your peace.
