Tag: love
True Love
Love is the revelation of our deepest personal meaning, value, and identity. But this revelation remains impossible as long as we are the prisoner of our own egoism. I cannot find myself in myself, but only in another. My true meaning and worth are shown to me not in my estimate of myself, but in… Read More ›
And the Greatest Is Love
Saint Benedict had a sister, Scholastica, — many say his twin — who had been consecrated to God since her youth and was herself a spiritual leader. During one of their annual visits, Scholastica, inspired by the depth of their conversation, asked Benedict — by now an abbot of some renown — to remain overnight… Read More ›
Pennington on Chapter 72 of the rule (cont.)
Obedience. Benedict goes on, oboedientiam sibi certatim impendant. We obey one another. We obey one another but certatim. Certatim expresses the idea of a certain jostling. If everybody is trying to obey each other, obviously there is going to be a certain competition there. That is what Benedict is saying. You struggle to be the… Read More ›
Love is our true destiny
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another. We do not discover the secret of our lives merely by study and calculation in our own isolated meditations. The meaning of our life is a secret that has to be revealed to… Read More ›
You Yourself are Within
Begin to recognize yourself, to love and possess yourself, to be kind to yourself, and you will be happy. If you desire to know yourself and to possess yourself, go into yourself, and do not search for yourself outside. Distinguish between what is around you, what belongs to you, and your self. The world surrounds… Read More ›
A Burning Love
Benedict goes on to describe this. It is really a description of what he sees as a way of spirituality, a way of growth into the fullness, a way of going into God. Hunc ergo zelum ferventissimo amore exerceant monachi. The monk is to make this zeal his own with a most fervent, burning love…. Read More ›
William of St. Thierry: The Nature and the Dignity of Love
Vatican City, Dec 2, 2009 / 11:42 am (CNA). Pope Benedict XVI delved into the life and teachings of William of St. Thierry, a Cistercian monk who wrote extensively about the nature of love. William of St. Thierry was a friend of Bernard of Clairvaux and helped reform monasticism in the 12th century. He also… Read More ›
God’s Love of Humanity
For God loved human beings, on account of whom he made the world, to whom he subordinated all things on the earth, to whom he gave reason and mind, whom alone he inclined to look above to himself, whom he made from his own image, to whom “he sent his one and only Son” [1… Read More ›
God is a Fire that Warms the Heart
God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil – for the devil is cold – let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but… Read More ›
Christ’s Love for All
The Word shows his compassion and impartiality through all saints, revealing and adapting himself, like a skillful physician, to whatever advantageous for us and understanding the weakness of our humanity. He tempts to teach the ignorant; he returns those who err to his own true way. He is easily found by those who seek with… Read More ›