Love and the World

As I spent some time with Sister Moon tonight, I pondered all that is going on in this nation and world… the hatred, the fear, the violence… As I sat in the stillness I found myself thinking about Jesus’ command to love our neighbor (yes that includes our enemies) and this quote from Thomas Merton came to mind.

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them. (No Man Is an Island p. 168)

We could learn a lot by simply being still and listening to the gentle whisper of God’s call to love.