Pages

07 June 2018

It is not enough to love

Don Bosco's message to the Salesians that young people not only need to be loved, but they also need to know that they are loved, has a significant pedagogical and phenomenological meaning behind it.  This message can be interpreted to mean that love needs to be expressed. It can also mean that it ought to be manifested.  Both these may seem the same but they are distinct.  Love not only is to be expressed, it is to be manifested as well. 

Expression, has for its focus, the one who loves.  Manifestation, on the other hand, has the one who is loved as the focus.  This gains significance if we remember that our starting point of a relationship is not 'loving', but 'being' and the feeling of being loved. We first receive love, much before we begin to share it with others or love others.  And prior to it all is life itself.

Secondly, deeds are the proof of the love one has for another, not beautiful words!  The best, however is a truly inner unity of both deeds and words.  

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...