7 July 2024
Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by
the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I
love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place
on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a
communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this
other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective
of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend. Going beyond exterior appearances, I
perceive in others an interior desire for a sign of love, of concern. This I
can offer them not only through the organizations intended for such purposes,
accepting it perhaps as a political necessity. Seeing with the eyes of Christ,
I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them
the look of love which they crave. Here we see the necessary interplay between
love of God and love of neighbour which the First Letter of John speaks of with
such insistence. If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I
cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of
seeing in him the image of God. But if in my life I fail completely to heed
others, solely out of a desire to be “devout” and to perform my “religious
duties”, then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely
“proper”, but loveless. Only my readiness to encounter my neighbour and to show
him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbour can my
eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me. The
saints—consider the example of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta—constantly renewed
their capacity for love of neighbour from their encounter with the Eucharistic
Lord, and conversely this encounter acquired its real- ism and depth in their
service to others. Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they
form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us
first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from
without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience
of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with
others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and
unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which
transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all”
(1 Cor 15:28).
Pope Benedict XVI
Deus Caritas Est (18)
The Passion of Christ
6 July 2024
Amongst all the marvels of the passion what we should most dwell upon is the unspeakable love with which Christ suffered for us, that we may love Him more and suffer with Him more sweetly. But chiefly that we may imitate Him, and be conformed to His image.
Saint Louis de Blois
Amongst all the marvels of the passion what we should most dwell upon is the unspeakable love with which Christ suffered for us, that we may love Him more and suffer with Him more sweetly. But chiefly that we may imitate Him, and be conformed to His image.
Saint Louis de Blois
The Eucharist
5 July 2024
Let’s learn to open our heart to Jesus, even if sometimes we feel tired
and wounded, to free ourselves from the weight of our sin through the only
medicine able to heal the deepest wounds of our lives: the Eucharist. Only by
shaping our actions on the Word of Jesus and nourishing ourselves with him will
we find that peace and joy that we need so much.
Mother Elvira Petrozzi
On Baptism
4 July 2024
Even as when he [the priest] baptizes, not he does baptize you, but it
is God that possesses your head with invisible power, and neither angel nor
archangel nor any other dare draw near and touch you; even so now also. For
when God begets, the gift is His only.
St. John Chrysostom
True Peace
3 July 2024
So I saw that God is our true peace and that he is our true Preserver when we ourselves are not at peace. He continually works to bring us to eternal peace. And so when, by the action of his mercy and grace, we have become humble and gentle, we are really safe. When the soul is really at peace with itself, it is immediately united to God because there can be no anger in God.
Julian of Norwich
So I saw that God is our true peace and that he is our true Preserver when we ourselves are not at peace. He continually works to bring us to eternal peace. And so when, by the action of his mercy and grace, we have become humble and gentle, we are really safe. When the soul is really at peace with itself, it is immediately united to God because there can be no anger in God.
Julian of Norwich
Christ and Him Crucified
2 July 2024
Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He
volunteered.
R. C. Sproul
Holy Scripture
1 July 2024
The Holy Spirit wants to be found in the Word. There he reveals himself as God.
Hermann Sasse
The Holy Spirit wants to be found in the Word. There he reveals himself as God.
Hermann Sasse
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