“Love is my weight” – declared St. Augustine, referring to the love of God and neighbour. “As much weight as I love” – he wanted to say. Selfish love is as light as the wind. It weighs nothing, it is worth absolutely nothing.
Claret thought the same when he said that “all our riches consist in love”. He called true love “gold among metals”, that love that is available, that love that is given freely, freely and freely.
The fact is that love is counterfeited like certain branded products. Mere sexual attraction or even physical relations with a person without having moral relations with them is called love. The simple carnal act, performed without any love, perhaps between strangers, is called “making love”.
Of another kind is the love that exists between husband and wife, between parents and children, between bosom friends; or that love that is professed for all human beings, especially the weakest and poorest.
I am more and more convinced that we are worth what our love is worth. And that if we clean our car, choose our clothes and do gymnastics, we should also dedicate some time to take care of our heart. There live the feelings that make us useful or useless: aggressiveness, irritation, indifference, vile desires… or then, kindness, gratitude, a kind word, timely praise, encouragement, an affectionate gesture.
Culture, career, success, prestige can be, for us, precious metals. But we are rich and happy to the extent that the “weight” of our heart, the “gold” of our life, increases.
Abílio Pina Ribeiro, cmf
(PHOTO: Marek Studzinski)
