The question of the greatest commandment is asked by a Pharisee, the doctor of the law. For them there were 613 commands in Torah in which 248 were positive (you shall do) and 365 were negative (you shall not do). The commandments are again classified into light and heavy. The Ten Commandments was considered as heavy that should not be broken. This is the context of the question.
Jesus answers with the Shemah-prayer (Dt 6:5), the basic principle of the whole Torah, love of God and love of neighbor, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of our relationship. This is the core of all the commandments. In other words all the commands are the expansion of these two commandments.
We love God because He is the creator and the most powerful. In the first reading from the book of Ezekiel (Ez 37:1-14) God shows the prophet the valley of bones and how powerful is the Word of God that gave live to all the lifeless bones. He is the maker of everything. He loves and protects us and so it is our duty as creatures to love God with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have to love our neighbor because we see the presence of God in them. Again, in the first reading from book of Ezekiel the bodies of human being were lifeless. They got life when the spirit of God entered into them. The Breath of God is the life giving principle. Therefore God is living in each and every individual. So it is our duty to love and respect them because they are the living temples of the Holy Spirit.
Let us love God the Supreme and respect the presence of God in our brothers and sisters.
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