Dec 21st - Love's Mystery

Here is a beautiful quote about the mystery of love. This quote is worth pondering and meditating on because so often we find people in our family and acquaintances that we find difficult to love. St. John of the Cross says something similar to this quote by Archbishop Sheen and that is - "we must put love where there is no love". Of course, we can not do this without God because God is Love. Let us read this quote and see what is being stated about this great mystery----
"Once I surrender the tinsel to have the jewel, then I enter into the mystery of love. I see that I do not love anyone unless he has some goodness in him, or is lovable in some way. But, I see also that God did not love me because I am lovable. I became lovable because God poured some of His goodness and love into me. I then began to apply this charity to my neighbor. If I do not find him lovable, I have to put love into him as God puts love into me, and thereby I provoke the response of love. Now, my personality is restored and I make the great discovery that no one is happy until he loves both God and neighbor."                      Archbishop Fulton Sheen
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I love this quote - there is so much here. Just the surrendering of the tinsel to have the jewel is so profound and speaks volumes about the way we live in this crazy world with all of its "tinsel" - we miss the jewels that God has for us! Obviously, humility is needed for this quote to work. If we have pride - we will never love. It takes great humility to lower ourselves to love someone who is not lovable. This humility is what draws the love out of the one who chooses to hate or be prideful. Again, this may take awhile and not be immediate. This makes it all the more painful and humiliating to do but being persistent and trusting in God's grace will reap tremendous blessings.
May we love God with our whole heart, mind and soul so that we can then turn to love our neighbor. Holy Mother Mary - please give us the grace of a profound humility so that we may experience God's profound love!