Even if my fellow man has proven faithless time after time, I can at least retain a hope that he will improve, pray for him, and think kindly without frustration and disappointment.
Interpretation
The quote encourages maintaining hope and kindness towards others despite their past disappointments.
This quote by Mother Angelica emphasizes the importance of compassion and forgiveness in relationships. It suggests that even when others have repeatedly let us down, we can choose to hold onto hope for their improvement while actively wishing them well and avoiding feelings of frustration or disappointment. It advocates for a perspective that values kindness and understanding over bitterness.
In practice
In a motivational speech about resilience in relationships.
I am not like a pebble on the beach - a grain of sand on the seashore or just one of millions of human beings past, present and future. No, I am a unique human being loved by God as if I were an only child - the only fruit of his creative powers.
I must not permit the evil capabilities of human nature to sour my faith in the tremendous good that is possible despite the frailty of that nature.
The sinner who suddenly realizes God's love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death.
Our memories are our own, and we cannot blame anything or anyone in the past for any pain dwelling there. If we open the door to them or keep hashing over past incidents in our minds, we have only ourselves to blame.
Man can and does rationalize his sins. He finds reasons for all his weakness, invents excuses that first calm and then deaden his conscience. He blames God, society, education, and environment for his wrong doing.
Love has been defined, analyzed, explained and excused. It has been the cause of wars, feuds, heroism, martyrdom, inordinate passion, and beautiful friendships. It pulls two people of opposite temperaments together into a married state and permits them to live happily. It makes friends understand each other without the necessity of words.
I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way. Oh my dear, I can’t be clever and stand-offish with you: I love you too much for that. Too truly.You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don’t love. I have brought it to a fine art. But you have broken down my defences. And I don’t really resent it.
That's the very reason why love is eternal, because it is forever renewed. Passions die, love remains.
And my heart springs up anew,_x000D_ _x000D_ Bright and confident and true,_x000D_ _x000D_ And the old love comes to meet me, in the dawning and the dew.
He (God) loved us not because we are lovable, but because He is love.
Clouds pass and disperse. Are those the faces of love, those pale irretrievables? Is it for such I agitate my heart?
There is some kiss we want with the whole of our lives.
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