hymnofroses:

“The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist”

— Pope St. Gregory the Great

There is no Love without the working of Love. Love that is held in the heart is not Love at all – it is sentiment. A positive, yet fleeting, emotion.

Love consists of the willing of the good for the other – as other. It is meeting another human in the place that he or she is. In that meeting, Love drives into that pain and resides there with that person. Not abandoning. Not running. Not hiding. Not tiring.

When the actions of Love cease to be, Love has ceased. The focus has moved from the other to the self. And there is no Love in selfishness.