Ponder the fact that God has made you a gardener, to root out vice and plant virtue.
St. Catherine Of SienaRead
Eternal Trinity... mystery deep as the sea, You could give me no greater gift than the gift of Yourself. For You are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my being.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the deep intimacy and selflessness in a relationship with the divine, emphasizing the gift of oneself as the greatest offering.
In this profound quote, St. Catherine of Siena portrays the relationship between the soul and God as a deep mystery akin to the vastness of the sea. The 'gift of Yourself' signifies the ultimate expression of love, where self-giving transcends selfish desires, allowing the divine fire to purify and transform the soul, revealing the true nature of love as both consuming and enlightening.
In practice
During a sermon, to illustrate the depth of divine love.
Ponder the fact that God has made you a gardener, to root out vice and plant virtue.
When it seems that God shows us the faults of others, keep on the safer side-it may be that your judgment is false. On your lips let silence abide. And any vice that you may ascribe to others, ascribe at once to them and yourself, in true humility. If that vice really exists in a person, he will correct himself better, seeing himself so gently understood, and will say of his own accord the thing that you would have said to him.
O unfathomable depth! O Deity eternal! O deep ocean! What more could You give me than to give me Yourself?
To a brave man, good and bad luck are like his left and right hand. He uses both.
There is no perfect virtue-none that bears fruit- unless it is exercised by means of our neighbor.
Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind.
Real love is always chaotic. You lose control; you lose perspective. You lose the ability to protect yourself. The greater the love, the greater the chaos. It’s a given and that’s the secret.
People frustrate us and let us down. Not because we aren't lovable, but because we rely on them to do our job of loving us. We must accept that our lovability and worth doesn't come from others. It comes from within.
True love is visible not to the eyes but to the heart, for eyes may be deceived.
I adore him I have never been so happy. I have real love.
... and through it all and afterwards they would be together, making their own world where nothing mattered but the things they could give to one another, the loveliness, the silence, and the peace.
The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.
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