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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Thought for the Day # 66 - Wednesday, May 20, 2020

“Deepening Love”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As we revisit this past day we have lived, in this pandemic, each in our own
corner, yet at the same time all of us together, a simple question about love
comes to me: how has your understanding of love, your vision of love, been
enriched?? How have you deepened your understanding of what it is to love- to
love the other, love your husband, love your wife, love your children, love your
parents? How does love replenish itself? To love the one next to me, to love my
neighbor, to love those I do not see but whom I want to support in my family.
With that in mind how is love enriched? I wonder.

Let us look at forgiveness. It is part of our lives because there are always
opportunities to forgive. There is the forgiveness that we are called to offer,
just as there is the forgiveness that we are called to receive. In both these
senses, forgiveness is a part of love.
Another aspect of love is sharing. When we are together, we are called to
share perhaps as we have never done before. When day after day we are always
together, we end up sharing life. Sharing is another aspect of love.
Another facet is love is love as gift, as a freely offered gift. Often when we
do something for others we hope for something in return and that’s normal,
that is human. But at another moment we can love just because we want to
give it. To love is to love because the other is first in our life. At any moment,
we love because, quite simply, we want to love the other! We want to give of
ourselves to the other, and we choose to love. And in this sense, love brings us
back to deepen our freedom. There is a freedom that we always have. At any
moment I am free, I have the power to choose to love. Has my freedom grown?
Do I choose to love with more spontaneity, with more depth? Is “loving” really
part of a choice that resonates throughout my whole existence?

(cont’d)

Collection of texts by the Most Rev. Christian Lépine 77