96. These are the levels of neighbor, the steps by which love ascends in people who are devoted to loving their neighbor. These levels are in a definite sequence in which the primary or higher is preferable to the secondary or lower; and since the Lord is on the highest level and is to be our central focus on every level as the ultimate goal of our actions, he is to be loved above all people and above all things.
This now makes it possible for us to tell how love for the Lord becomes joined to love for our neighbor.
