In this truly beautiful encyclical, Pope Francis offers the theology specific to the “revolution of tenderness” for which he has so often and so insistently called.
St Catherine of Siena has a beautiful derivation of the love of neighbor.
I wish I could find the source. I thought it was in her Dialogue but I couldn't find the exact reference.
God says to her "I ask you to love me with the same love with which I love you. But for me you cannot do this, for I loved you without being loved. Whatever love you have for me you owe me, so you love me not gratuitously but out of duty, while I love you not out of duty but gratuitously. So you cannot give me the kind of love I ask of you. This is why I have put you among your neighbors: so that you can do for them what you cannot do for me – that is, love them without any concern for thanks and without looking for any profit for yourself. And whatever you do for them I will consider done for me."
Hi Eric. Please forgive! I simply did see this until just now... 4 days late.
Again, Eric, you've offered something very beautiful. St. Catherine is just beautiful. Imagine if we all tried to love in a way which is unselfish, disinterested, gratuitous... the world would look quite a bit different.
St Catherine of Siena has a beautiful derivation of the love of neighbor.
I wish I could find the source. I thought it was in her Dialogue but I couldn't find the exact reference.
God says to her "I ask you to love me with the same love with which I love you. But for me you cannot do this, for I loved you without being loved. Whatever love you have for me you owe me, so you love me not gratuitously but out of duty, while I love you not out of duty but gratuitously. So you cannot give me the kind of love I ask of you. This is why I have put you among your neighbors: so that you can do for them what you cannot do for me – that is, love them without any concern for thanks and without looking for any profit for yourself. And whatever you do for them I will consider done for me."
I love St Catherine for a hundred reasons.
Hi Eric. Please forgive! I simply did see this until just now... 4 days late.
Again, Eric, you've offered something very beautiful. St. Catherine is just beautiful. Imagine if we all tried to love in a way which is unselfish, disinterested, gratuitous... the world would look quite a bit different.
Thank you so much for sharing this.