Love and Ever More Love

It's been a great few days at ACU's Summit. I'm a bit exhausted by it all. My classes when well, but the big highlight was getting to have a wonderful conversation with Rachel Held Evans about our lives as bloggers. The conversation was videotaped so expect to see some of it appear here (or on Rachel's blog) after the editing is done. My big takeaway: Rachel is the real deal. She's brilliant, warm, funny and compassionate. And as an ACU faculty member I was deeply touched by how much time she to took to visit and personally interact with our students.

Given how busy it has been I'd like to share a quote today from Dorothy Day that I've been saving:

Even the best of human love is filled with self-seeking. To work to increase our love for God and for our fellow man (and the two must go hand in hand), this is a lifetime job. We are never going to be finished.

Love and ever more love is the only solution to every problem that comes up. If we love each other enough, we will bear each other's faults and burdens. If we love enough, we are going to light that fire in the hearts of others. And it is love that will burn out the sins and hatreds that sadden us. It is love that will make us want to do great things for each other. No sacrifice and no suffering will then seem too much.

Yes, I see only too clearly how bad people are. I wish I did not see it so. It is my own sins that give me such clarity. If I did not bear the scars of so many sins to dim my sight and dull my capacity for love and joy, then I would see Christ more clearly in you all.

I cannot worry much about your sins and miseries when I have so many of my own. I can only love you all, poor fellow travelers, fellow sufferers. I do not want to add one least straw to the burden you already carry. My prayer from day to day is that God will so enlarge my heart that I will see you all, and live with you all, in His love.