“Without love, we are a burden to ourselves. Thanks to love, we bear one another.” (St. Augustine)
Love sets everything in motion. From it we can draw again and again the strength to do what this same love dictates to us. Without it, not only does everything sound “like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor 13:1), but it can become tiresome and unbearable. This applies especially to the difficult stages of life.
Here it is important to practice proper love for oneself. Far from being an excess of condescension or false self-indulgence, proper self-love helps us to treat ourselves as our Father treats us.
If we put it into practice, love of neighbor will also mature in us, a love free from internal pressures toward others and their expectations. Love will teach us to endure with our neighbor, just as the Lord endures with us.
“Love can do all things: it accomplishes things that would exhaust and weary in vain him who does not love.” (Charles de Foucauld)
It’s no wonder the saints place so much emphasis on love. After all, love is the reason for our existence, redemption, and sanctification. If “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8), then knowing the love of our Father is the most important thing, as is living in it and passing it on to others. The more we allow God’s love to fill our hearts, the easier it will become. Then, the words of St. Augustine that we heard today will become a reality.
God’s love sustains us, so that we don’t become a burden to ourselves and are able to bear with others. In this way, our lives become a ray of light, just as our Father intended.