"I Have Not Loved"

 "I confess to you Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that... I have not loved you with my whole heart. I have not loved my neighbor as myself. I am truly sorry, and I humbly repent."
     I was just reflecting on these words from the confessional prayer/liturgy I recite in the mornings. This is what our mistakes, our errors, and our offenses boil down to, "I have not loved..." This is where we must recognize our flaw, our error, and turn around from it, "I have not loved." Not in any one specific moment of anger, fear, or selfishness, but this thing only, this thing which violates the greatest commandments and teachings of Jesus Christ, and the very heart and nature of the God who is Love, "I have not loved."
     There is no fear with love, and love completes and fulfills every law, rule, and regulation. Rather than focusing on any one particular failing, and one particular struggle, it is this one simple thing which must be focused on, nurtured, and protected at all costs within our lives, that we love God, that we love one another, that we love the person next to us, and that we love those who hate us. Rather than focusing on one's own struggle with anger, focus on loving the object of that anger. Rather than focusing on one's struggle with pornography, imagine the model as your sister or daughter, and love that person for who she is. Rather than focusing on one's struggle with addiction, focus on loving just one other person next to you no matter who it is. Start with one person, and then bring one more person into your focus of love. And then another.
     "I have not loved," is really the source and root of all of our human evils and problems, and it is this, first and foremost, which is what must be turned around from.