Love of God – Love of Neighbor - Love of Self
Nowadays
we would like to make Christianity exclusively a matter of head knowledge. But a Christianity that is merely discussion,
organization, and a bit of morality does not support us; we cannot grow fond of
it; it does not provide joy and strength for our life. IN order for the faith to support us and not
to be a burden, it has to touch the heart, we must be able to grow fond of
God. And so [today] we want to call the
Lord Jesus by his name, ask him to make us grow fond of this name again, so
that by our fondness for this name we might again sense his own closeness and
so that this might bring joy to our heart, the joy of not being alone, which
remains and guides us even in the hours of darkness. – A Homily from Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope
Benedict XVI) in year 1998.
Sr.Eop
Elizabeth McDonough – Dominican nun. 80lbs. scared us all.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE à SELF-POSSESSION à SELF-GIFT
1. Know
who you are. Strengths. Weaknesses.
Gifts. Wounds. (HUMILITY)
2. Mortification. Interior battle of will. Ideals.
“Brother ‘donkey’” (Francis)
3. Choose
love.
Then you find who you
truly are, since “man does not discover himself except in a sincere gift of
self.” (GS 24)
Love of self leads us to love of God. And thus we have come full-circle, and Christianity
is freed from being simply head-knowledge – it is what it was always meant to
be: a path by God leading us back to God, through the journey of love. May the Eucharist take us one step further
along that journey.
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