Gospel (Mk 12,28-34) -  At that time, one of the scribes approached Jesus and asked him: "Which is the first of all the commandments?". Jesus replied: «The first is: «Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord; you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength." The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these." The scribe said to him: «You have said well, Master, and according to truth, that He is unique and there is no other except Him; loving him with all your heart, with all your intelligence and with all your strength and loving your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all the holocausts and sacrifices." Seeing that he had responded wisely, Jesus said to him: "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no one had the courage to question him anymore.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

"You are not far from the kingdom of God" Jesus replies to that wise scribe. Being a scribe meant knowing the Scripture and the Law, and the fact that he asks what the first commandment is, shows his wisdom. That scribe doesn't think he already knows everything, he doesn't stop asking questions, questioning the masters, the Scripture and the Lord. When we think we already know everything, when we take everything for granted, when we no longer ask ourselves questions, we ultimately give up on changing ourselves and the world around us. Jesus responds by speaking about love, referring to the words of Scripture: «Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord; you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength." Jesus is quoting the Shema Israel, "Hear, O Israel!", the most important of all Jewish prayers, the profession of faith that is repeated three times a day. The rabbis said: "Whoever inhabits the earth and recites the shema in the morning and in the evening is certainly a child of the world to come." Perhaps Jesus was also thinking of this saying when he tells the scribe that he is not far from the kingdom of God. He who prays is a child of a world to come, that is, he has not put hope aside but keeps it alive. And what keeps hope alive is love. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus unites these words in himself, making them a single commandment. He who truly loves God, with all his heart, loves others as himself, because he learns from him to love his neighbor, concrete humanity, with its wounds and pains. It is the vision of a common life and destiny, of a kingdom (that of God) that is for everyone.