A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.
John Of The CrossRead
Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love.
Interpretation
True love includes the capacity to love those who do not reciprocate that love.
This quote emphasizes the importance of unconditional love, suggesting that one should nurture a genuine affection for those who oppose or do not reciprocate their feelings. By doing so, we cultivate a deeper understanding and a capacity to love in the absence of love, fostering compassion and empathy even for those who may not seem deserving of it.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of compassion in relationships.
A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.
Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing.
In sorrow and suffering, go straight to God with confidence, and you will be strengthened, enlightened and instructed.
Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.
To reach satisfaction in all_x000D_ _x000D_ desire its possession in nothing,_x000D_ _x000D_ To come to the knowledge of all_x000D_ _x000D_ desire the knowledge of nothing._x000D_ _x000D_ To come to possess all_x000D_ _x000D_ desire the possession of nothing._x000D_ _x000D_ To arrive at being all_x000D_ _x000D_ desire to be nothing.
Where there is no love, pour love in, and you will draw love out.
Yet, she said to herself, form the dawn of time odes have been sung to love; wreaths heaped and roses; and if you asked nine people out of ten they would say they wanted nothing but this--love; while the women, judging from her own experience, would all the time be feeling, This is not what we want; there is nothing more tedious, puerile, and inhumane than this; yet it is also beautiful and necessary.
Oh, why was he so handsomely blond, so courteously aloof, so maddeningly boring with his talk about Europe and books and music and poetry and things that interested her not at all - and yet so desirable?
But square-cut or pear-shaped, These rocks don't lose their shape. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
Whoever labors for the happiness of those he loves elevates himself, no matter whether he works in the dreary shop or the perfumed field.
To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be.
I cannot love anyone if I hate myself. That is the reason why we feel so extremely uncomfortable in the presence of people who are noted for their special virtuousness, for they radiate an atmosphere of the torture they inflict on themselves. That is not a virtue but a vice.
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