Reflection
The universe is energized by the outpouring of Love. Love of God, neighbor and self are in the make-up of our very beings. With the gift of life we all begin to journey within that creative love. The creative act makes us all one. We are empowered to be conduits of Love on this earth. That there are sometimes factors which affect how we act toward one another is part of the human condition. The question is whether we allow the Spirit of Love within us to direct our responses to all othersin accord with our nature or allow ourselves to be diverted by distorted societal viewpoints based in fear and prejudice.
Prayer
Bring alive in me today a loving heart. Make it active in my life.
Action
Try to respond with forgiveness, generosity, justice, and love toward those with whom you live and work or who are marginalized by your fear or prejudice.
Suggested Readings
Moses said to the people:
“If only you would heed the voice of the Lord, your God,
and keep God’s commandments and statutes!
For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky… Nor is it across the sea,
that you should say,” Who will cross the sea to get it for us?
No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.
Dt 30:10-14
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”
Luke 10:25 -37
Our neighbors are not first our enemies but other men and women with whom we can speak.
Pope Leo XIV
How can you love God if you do not love your neighbor?
Pope Francis
What is the mark of love for your neighbor? Not to seek what is for your own benefit, but what is for the benefit of the one loved, both in body and in soul.
St. Basil the Great
We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God´s compassionate love for others.
St. Clare of Assisi
Intense love does not measure it just gives.
Mother Teresa
He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor.
St. Bede the Venerable
The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor.
Hubert H. Humphrey
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Lao Tzu
One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.
Paulo Coelho
Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.
Wayne Dyer