WHAT WE ARE

“[I]t is true, for better or worse, that we affect others in the last resort by what we are. From us too power will go forth in our small measure, to heal or to hurt, in accordance with our state of being. Too easily we forget this central fact of life: that always and inevitably we are affecting other people. We think too exclusively in material terms; we forget the power of spirit. We think too exclusively in terms of outward activity; we forget the power of being. If we are filled with egoism, hatred, the dark forces of life, then we spread darkness and bitterness about us whatever we may do or say. If we are filled with love then it is light and joy that go forth from us and affect the world even though we may be remote from human contacts. We know what it means to be lapped in the love of another human being, to be energized by it, healed, strengthened, renewed: we have to see that that is true of the whole world, the battleground of those opposing forces, partly a haunted house where evil that was done long ago lingers and is active, partly holy ground where the influence of love lingers on, to the healing of humanity. We have to think of the simple saints, the hermits in their cells, and see them for what they really are: playing a major part in the world’s destiny, in the shaping of the world’s future, simply because they are love-filled and love goes forth from them. To spread that kind of influence is the first duty of the christian [sic] in the world in which he lives.”

–Gerald Vann, OP,  The Pain of Christ