Overheard outside a concert hall:
"What a singer! His voice filled the hall."
"Yes, several of us had to leave the hall to make room for it!"
Overheard in a spiritual counseling session:
"How can I love God as the scriptures tell us to? How can I give him my whole heart?"
"You must first empty your heart of all created things."
Misleading! Don't be afraid to fill your heart with the people and things you love, for the love of God won't occupy space in your heart any more than a singer's voice occupies space in a concert hall.
Love is not like a loaf of bread. If I give a chunk of the loaf to you I have less to offer to others. Love is like eucharistic bread: I receive the whole Christ. You receive the whole Christ too; and so does the next person, and the next.
You can love your mother with your whole heart; and your husband or wife; and each of your children;. The wonder is that giving the whole of it to one person does not force you to give less to another. On the contrary, each one of them now gets more. For if you love only your friend and no one else it is a feeble heart that you offer. Your friend would stand to gain if you also gave it to others.
Anthony de Mello
"What a singer! His voice filled the hall."
"Yes, several of us had to leave the hall to make room for it!"
Overheard in a spiritual counseling session:
"How can I love God as the scriptures tell us to? How can I give him my whole heart?"
"You must first empty your heart of all created things."
Misleading! Don't be afraid to fill your heart with the people and things you love, for the love of God won't occupy space in your heart any more than a singer's voice occupies space in a concert hall.
Love is not like a loaf of bread. If I give a chunk of the loaf to you I have less to offer to others. Love is like eucharistic bread: I receive the whole Christ. You receive the whole Christ too; and so does the next person, and the next.
You can love your mother with your whole heart; and your husband or wife; and each of your children;. The wonder is that giving the whole of it to one person does not force you to give less to another. On the contrary, each one of them now gets more. For if you love only your friend and no one else it is a feeble heart that you offer. Your friend would stand to gain if you also gave it to others.
Anthony de Mello
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