Today's Journal
COURAGEOUS LOVE
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) Trappist monk, theologian and author wrote:“In a time of drastic change one can be too preoccupied with what is ending or too obsessed with what seems to be beginning. In either case one loses touch with the present and with its obscure but dynamic possibilities. What really matters is openness, readiness, attention, courage to face risk. You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. In such an event, courage is the authentic form taken by love.” (From: ‘Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander')
To embrace the ‘present moment’ with courage has become more difficult in my view for a couple of reasons: First, we have access to information about almost everything. Thus, the present moment is strung out over more than today and into weeks and months… without real desire for slowness and silence we are seldom truly present to the moment. Also, the courage required for our challenges is easier to generate and regenerate by technique than by love.
Courageous Love is only possible by Self-Donation… as we fight off self-deception.
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” Jesus