Love God, love others, love yourself

Let us pray (in silence) [that we may love God, others, and ourselves]

pause

Almighty God,
you teach us in your word
that love is the fulfilling of the law:
grant that we may love you with all our heart
and our neighbours as ourselves;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.

NZPB p.634

This collect wonderfully combines the teaching of Paul (Romans 13:10) that love is the fulling of the law, with the commandment of Jesus. Our human heart is such that there is only a single strength to our love - we love God, self, and others in the same way. We cannot love God and treat others disdainfully.

The collect is sourced in one of the September Masses in the Leonine Sacramentary (971).