I had not been back to Rome in 23 years. This past January when I returned, after visiting St. Peter's Basilica, the Pantheon was my second stop. I had forgotten how big the hole also called the oculus or eye in the center of the Pantheon dome was. It is a big hole, 30 feet in diameter. The word Pantheon means the various gods of a people. The Pantheon was originally constructed for the worship the various gods Rome’s citizens were focused on.

I recalled my recent visit to the Pantheon as I reflected on today’s readings. Throughout the known world at the time, people believed in several gods. Israel was unique in their belief in only one god. Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy, told the people: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone."

Moses boldly proclaimed that the God of Israel was not only the one God of his people but the one and only God of the whole universe. This idea ran counter to all cultures at the time. The God of Israel revealed himself as the God who created all things and by whom all things are sustained by his power and goodness. Consequently, the Israelites understood that God had a total claim on them. And that God called for a response at every level of their being.

In today’s Gospel, St. Mark tells us about a dialogue between the Lord and a scribe. This scribe asked the Lord his opinion on the question about God’s most important commandment. He asked the question to the very author of God’s Law. The Lord responded with two verses from Deuteronomy, the first verse being the verse that I quoted previously, known as the Shema.

The second verse is this: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." To understand the Lord’s second statement, we need to fully understand the first. Precisely because our dependence on the one and only God is total, so too our response to God encompasses every aspect of our being.

The words "heart," "soul," "mind," and "strength" each refer to the whole person. The Lord himself was the person who fulfilled this first commandment to perfection. The Lord loved his heavenly Father with all his heart. He loved his heavenly Father with the innermost depths of his being from which all his actions flowed. We should love God in the same way.

The Lord also loved his heavenly Father with all his soul. He loved him with the totality of his human being. This whole being was what the Lord gave up for our sake on the cross. We, too, must love God with our whole being. The Lord also loved his heavenly Father with all his mind. The Lord's thoughts were always animated by love for his heavenly Father. We, too, must love God with our thoughts.

Finally, the Lord also loved his heavenly Father with all his strength. The Lord's love for his heavenly Father was not a spontaneous feeling but a commitment that required every ounce of his energy. We, too, must love God with all our strength.

Let us ask the Lord to grant us his grace to love him as he loved his heavenly Father.