Characteristics of love…
Here are two characteristics of love: it is to be for one another, that is, mutual, and it must be constant.
–Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
Ever let mercy…
Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence. A heart hard and unmerciful will never be pure.
— Saint Isaac of Syria (Seventh Century)
Love in your enemies…
You don’t love in your enemies what they are, but what you would have them become by your prayers.
— Saint Augustine (354-430)
The love of Christ knows no limits…
Whoever is near us and needing us must be our ”neighbor”; it does not matter whether he is related to us or not, whether he is morally worthy of our help or not. The love of Christ knows no limits. It never ends; it does not shrink from ugliness and filth.
— Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
Spiritual need transcends…
On the question of relating to our fellowman – our neighbor’s spiritual need transcends every commandment. Everything else we do is a means to an end. But love is an end already, since God is love.
— Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
If we love God…
This is the nature of love: to the extent that we distance ourselves from the center of the circle and do not love God, we distance ourselves from our neighbor; but if we love God, then the nearer we draw to him in love, the more we are united with our neighbor in love.
— Saint Dorotheus of Gaza (Sixth Century)
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