Jacapone da Todi (Jacapone Benedetti)
(1230-1306)
An early companion of St. Francis of Assisi
But love Goodness,
You and your Beloved will become one.
When you love Him, He must love you in return;
In His charity you are drawn to Him
And the two are made one.
This is true union
That admits of no divisions.
T
This is a very good verse. I wonder how much modern psychology gets in the way of this kind of mutual love and union. The latest things from psychology that I read are almost exclusively focused on the self: love yourself so that you can love others but love yourself first because you cannot love others unless you do so, treat yourself, do things for yourself. It seems to me that this is counterproductive advice.
ReplyDeleteI met a psychologist once who, I am sure, thinks that I must be a terribly disturbed person. We got talking about my communicity involvement and work, and then about all my kids (they were little then) and how much time they took in order to care for them well medically and otherwise. She asked me, "So, what do you do for yourself?"
I don't think she liked my answer. Taking care of my kids IS doing something for myself. Helping other people IS doing for myself. (And now I would say, doing whatever God puts in my path to do IS doing something for myself.) She could not see that, and I could not see her view. So, we parted, and I have not seen her since.
I think her approach/attitude, though, is very common today, and I wonder how much more harm than good it does.