Since my longing for martyrdom was powerful and unsettling, I turned to the epistles of St. Paul in the hope of finally finding an answer. By chance the 12th and 13th chapters of the 1st epistle to the Corinthians caught my attention, and in the first section I read that not everyone can be an apostle, prophet or teacher, that the Church is composed of a variety of members, and that the eye cannot be the hand. Even with such an answer revealed before me, I was not satisfied and did not find peace.
I persevered in the reading and did not let my mind wander until I found this encouraging theme: Set your desires on the greater gifts. And I will show you the way which surpasses all others. For the Apostle insists that the greater gifts are nothing at all without love and that this same love is surely the best path leading directly to God. At length I had found peace of mind.
When I had looked upon the mystical body of the Church, I recognised myself in none of the members which St. Paul described, and what is more, I desired to distinguish myself more favourably within the whole body. Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation. Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and more noble member was not lacking; I knew that the Church had a heart and that such a heart appeared to be aflame with love. I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I saw and realised that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.
Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed: O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love. Certainly I have found my place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.
--St Therese of Lisieux, Autobiography
Love above all
“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (Jn 12:25). In other words, the one who wants to have his life for himself, living only for himself, keeping everything to himself and exploiting all its possibilities – is actually the one who loses his life. Life becomes boring and empty.
Only by self-abandonment, only by the disinterested gift of the “I” in favour of the “you”, only in the “yes” to the greater life, the life of God, does our life also become broad and great.
Thus this fundamental principle established by the Lord is ultimately identical to the principle of love. Love, in fact, means letting go of oneself, giving oneself, not wanting to possess oneself, but becoming free from oneself: not retiring into oneself – (what will become of me?) – but looking ahead, towards the other – towards God and towards the men that he sends to me. And once again, this principle of love, which defines man’s path, is identical to the mystery of the cross, to the mystery of death and resurrection that we encounter in Christ.
(Benedict XVI, Homily, Palm Sunday--24th World Youth Day, 5 April 2009)
Friendliness, like the other virtues, has two extremes and is only found midway between two vices. It is a lack of friendliness to show none at all, to seem rude and unpleasant, to look sad and gloomy, so that you freeze the hearts of those around you. (…) There is another vice at the other extreme of this virtue, which is to be excessively friendly; for instance, to embrace with a certain greediness, to say to each other 'Oh, how I love you. I wouldn't have missed seeing you for anything in the world.' This is excessive friendliness. [p. 94]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
Friendliness, strictly speaking, is the outward effect of charity in the heart; it springs from the heart and shows how very glad you are to be with a particular Sister or poor person; it is a joy felt in the heart when you see a person you love and it shows in your face; for when someone has joy in her heart she cannot hide it, you see it clearly written on her face. [pp. 93-94]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
Get used to thinking of things and persons, always and in all things, in the best possible light. If a deed has a hundred aspects, said the blessed Bishop of Geneva, always look at it from the best side. (…) I have naturally the vexing habit of judging everything and everyone by my own wretched self, but experience has taught me what a joy it is to approach things differently and how God blesses this way of behaving. [p. 92]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
If you consider before God that you are under an obligation to bring to the notice of your superiors the shortcomings of a Sister, you must be careful to do so charitably, without any exaggeration (…) Neither exaggerate the evil nor excuse it but tell the truth as you would wish it to be told if you were the one who had committed the offence. [p. 91]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
St Vincent de Paul's talk to Daughters of Charity:
“Sometimes we dislike each other without knowing why. Often it's a touch of jealousy or envy. Our dislike for a Sister can come from hearing her eat or seeing her do some other action. This dislike, if we dwell on it, will inevitably lead to disunity. Oh my Daughters, do everything you can to overcome it.” [p. 90]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
St Vincent de Paul to a superior:
“Put up with everything, (…) again I say everything, so that divesting yourself of your superiority, you adapt yourself to him [a fellow missionary] in charity. This is the means by which our Lord won over and guided the apostles, and the only means by which you will succeed. In consequence, give way to his feelings, never contradict him on the spot; but later, humbly and in friendship, point things out to him.” [p. 87]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
One of the principal acts of charity is to bear with our neighbour; and we must realise this undoubted truth, that the difficulties we have with our neighbour spring more from our own poorly mortified tempers than from anything else. [p. 87]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
Effúndam super vos aquam mundam, et mundabímini ab ómnibus inquinaméntis vestris, et ab univérsis idólis vestris mundábo vos. Et dabo vobis cor novum et spíritum novum ponam in médio vestri et áuferam cor lapídeum de carne vestra et dabo vobis cor cárneum; et spíritum meum ponam in médio vestri et fáciam, ut in præcéptis meis ambulétis et iudícia mea custodiátis et operémini.
I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws and sincerely respect my observances.
(Ezekiel 36:25 - 27)
Let us sing to the Lord a song of love
Sing to the Lord a new song; his praise is in the assembly of the saints. We are urged to sing a new song to the Lord, as new men who have learned a new song. A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love. Anyone, therefore, who has learned to love the new life has learned to sing a new song, and the new song reminds us of our new life. The new man, the new song, the new covenant, all belong to the one kingdom of God, and so the new man will sing a new song and will belong to the new covenant.
There is not one who does not love something, but the question is, what to love. The psalms do not tell us not to love, but to choose the object of our love. But how can we choose unless we are first chosen? We cannot love unless someone has loved us first. [Quia nec dilígimus, nisi prius diligámur.] Listen to the apostle John: We love him, because he first loved us. The source of man’s love for God can only be found in the fact that God loved him first. He has given us himself as the object of our love, and he has also given us its source. What this source is you may learn more clearly from the apostle Paul who tells us: The love of God has been poured into our hearts. This love is not something we generate ourselves; it comes to us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Since we have such an assurance, then, let us love God with the love he has given us. As John tells us more fully: God is love, and whoever dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. It is not enough to say: Love is from God. Which of us would dare to pronounce the words of Scripture: God is love? He alone could say it who knew what it was to have God dwelling within him. God offers us a short route to the possession of himself. He cries out: Love me and you will have me for you would be unable to love me if you did not possess me already.
My dear brothers and sons, fruit of the true faith and holy seed of heaven, all you who have been born again in Christ and whose life is from above, listen to me; or rather, listen to the Holy Spirit saying through me: Sing to the Lord a new song. Look, you tell me, I am singing. Yes indeed, you are singing; you are singing clearly, I can hear you. But make sure that your life does not contradict your words. Sing with your voices, your hearts, your lips and your lives [Cantáte vócibus, cantáte córdibus, cantate óribus, cantáte móribus]: Sing to the Lord a new song’.
Now it is your unquestioned desire to sing of him whom you love, but you ask me how to sing his praises. You have heard the words: Sing to the Lord a new song, and you wish to know what praises to sing. The answer is: His praise is in the assembly of the saints; it is in the singers themselves. If you desire to praise him, then live what you express [vos estóte quod dicátis]. Live good lives, and you yourselves will be his praise [Laus ipsíus estis, si bene vivátis].
(St Augustine, Sermon 34:1-3,5-6; CCL 41, 424-426)
(Comment of a Sister on Mother Teresa.)
She seemed to delight in you. It was not something of charity that was burdensome, which destroys the dignity of the poor, but it was something that she delighted in.... You had the sense that she considered it a privilege to do this. She comforted you when you were sad. She encouraged you when you were doubting whether you could do something.
(Come Be My Light, p 336)
Be kind to each other.--I prefer you make mistakes in kindness--than that you work miracles in unkindness. Be kind in words.--See what the kindness of our Lady brought to her, see how she spoke. She could have easily told St Joseph of the Angel's message--yet she never uttered a word.--And then God Himself interfered. She kept all these in her heart.--Would that we could keep all our words in her heart. So much suffering--so much misunderstanding, for what? Just for one word--one look--one quick action--and darkness fills the heart of your Sister. Ask our Lady during this novena to fill your heart with sweetness.
(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 196)