What must I do to inherit eternal life? This question posed by the scribe to Jesus is a question asked by every man and woman. It is a question that revolves around the very meaning and purpose of life itself. It is a question that is answered, even if implicitly, in our day to day endeavors. However, just like the scribe, we might feel that we really don’t know how to answer this important question about life, or rather, we might feel that we are answering the wrong question. And for us to answer the right question and come up with the right answers, we have to figure out what eternal life is in the first place.
What is eternal life? Is it life without end? Is it the after-life? Eternal life is a life with God, a life of happiness, a fulfilled (full) life. It is a life that begins right in the present, not something that we hope for in the future. It is the life that Jesus comes to help us attain (cf. John 10:10-  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full). And so the question becomes: what is it that I must do to be with God? What is it that I must do to live a happy, full, fulfilled life? While there might be several ways out there, for Jesus and for the members of the Christian family, there is only one way: the way of love (loving God and the neighbor), in other words, being true to one’s identity.
The human person was created out of love and for love (he was created to love). Loving is something inherent in the human person. It is part of the human person. Love is the voice of God inside us. Love is the language spoken and understood by both God and the human person. Love is the means of God’s communication with the human person. If one has to be with God, one has to understand God’s language: love. “ Do this and you will live,” Jesus said to the scribe. In other words, “Love and you will be alive. Love and you will be happy. Love and your life’s aspirations will be fulfilled.”