A reflection on love

From today's Magnificat reading, taken from the writings of Father Hans Urs von Balthasar.

"To allow oneself truly to be loved is more difficult than for oneself to love, and more humility is required. First of all, one is an object and not an autonomously acting subject, and hence one must have the humility to receive instead of to give. Then, too, a total and quite complex purification fo one's interior veraciy is necessary. Considerable time is required between the discovery that one can onself love and the discovery that one can truly be loved without one's lover being blinded by some illusion. It is easy to find oneself loveworthy with arrogance; but this does not satisfy a person who is loved and does not want to hide any part of his truth from the person loving him.... In the end, all true love is not blind: it alone really sees, but, seeing, it overlooks and thus banishes guilt from the world. Therefore, let others love in you the good things God has given you and do not deprive love of its nourishment."

Some random thoughts pertaining - either directly or indirectly to this.

Question: is R&J just about discovering the capacity to love, or does it also allow for the acceptance of love?

Fr. Kevin Cronin, OFM, who we all deeply loved back in NJ, once told my Mom that it was very difficult for him to accept love or affection from others. At the time (grade school), I didn't understand that. It seemed very odd. I do now. It's this odd shyness, this strange fear. Which is part of why, I think, we were commanded to be more like little children.

Little children simply expect that they are loved and that others desire to love them and that this is as it is. And this is how it is meant to be. And as we get older or jaded or worn or battle-weary we forget what the world is and instead we get blinded by the frightening illusions that the enemy constructs. We get caught up in perspective and monocular vision and seeing so hard through things that, as Lewis reminds us, we see nothing at all. Whereas a child who saw an impossible thing in front of them would simply see it and accept it and most likely try to take it home as a pet and love it.

I think we need to return to seeing things in front of us, and not keep searching for something that really isn't there. Love is before us. (*grins* as she thinks of Chesterton's passage on "God is Love." Ah, philosophers!)

To that end: la la la.

Mood: Flitting like a hawk held by jesses
Music: "Trying" from Lifehouse a la R&J Soundtrack
Forthcoming: A theatre rant. It's been a while.