Merton on Loving Others Truly
Posted on 27 June 2010
It is clear, then, that to love others well we must first love the truth. And since love is a matter of practical and concrete human relations, the truth we must love when we love our brothers is not mere abstract speculation… The truth we must love in loving our brothers is the concrete destiny and sanctity that are willed for them by the love of God. One who really loves another is not moved merely by the desire to see him contented and healthy and prosperous in this world. Love cannot be satisfied with anything so incomplete. If I am to love my brother, I must enter deep into the mystery of God’s love for him. 1
- Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island, p. 7 ↩
1 Response to Merton on Loving Others Truly
The love that Christians are to walk in is not the fruit of an intellectual exercise. It is not the result of defining love correctly.
The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Not love for God but His very love. So that John can say that our love is perfect when as He is so are we in this world. To walk in this love we must develop spiritually i.e. we must learn to recognize the voice of our spirit, the voice of love which has been shed abroad in our hearts, and to suffer the “pain” of obedience.