I try to have this attitude towards my faith, because my faith isn’t about just getting to heaven. However, that is the ultimate goal, and our readings today offer us the closest thing we have to a bottom line for getting to heaven: love God. This teaching is at the very core of our religion and our faith. When presented with this Gospel reading before, I’ve thought, “Easy enough. I love God. I’m going to heaven.” But what does it really mean to love God?

We get some clues on how to do this in the first reading from Hosea. First, we are challenged to reject earthly idols: “We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’ to the work of our hands.” I try to eliminate idols in my life by simplifying my possessions, but it’s definitely a struggle. I try to ask myself, “What can I live without?” When one of my possessions (a favorite shirt, my computer, my cell phone) fails to make the list, I know I need to reassess my priorities.

A second clue on how we can love God comes from Psalms. We read, “If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, I would feed them with the best of wheat.” So, if we want to love God, we should walk in God’s ways. As a college student, I strive to consider this through my discernment. Instead of trying to figure out what I want to do, I need to figure out what God wants me to do.

I know I can always devote more time to praying and listening for God’s direction in my life, but when I’m failing at that, I fall back on a final clue given to us in today’s Gospel from Mark. This clue is the second of all commandments, but I think of it as Jesus’ explanation of the best method for loving God. If I want to love God, I must love my neighbor. That is the bottom line. That is Jesus’ recipe for heaven. In every action I make (or fail to make), I should be asking myself, “Am I loving my neighbor by doing this (or not doing this)?” If the answer is no, then I must remind myself that by failing to love my neighbor, I am failing to love God.