CHAPTER 19: Live for Others
This chapter treats acts of charity, loving-kindness, and
righteousness which are the outward manifestations of an interior faith.
The spiritual life which begins with faith and devotion to Ultimate
Reality finds its completion in deeds of compassion, loving-kindness,
service, and witness which manifest the Heart of Ultimate Reality in the
world: "We love, because He first loved us" (1 John 4.19). Indeed,
religion has been convincing to many because it has produced people of
love who could surpass the standards of worldly affections.
Living for others is ultimately not a burden or a sacrifice. For
those who have reached the goal of life, who have become one with Ultimate
Reality, the motivation to give, serve, and love others flows
spontaneously from their inmost being. They wish to give and serve for
the sake of the other, without seeking any benefit for themselves. Their
love is full of forgiveness and tolerance for those who do them wrong,
whether from ignorance or from malice. They never find satisfaction in
exacting revenge on their enemies, but only in bringing them to
salvation. This is the ideal manifested by men and women of True Love,
pp. 236-41. But living for others is also an ethic and a discipline
which must be cultivated and practiced, for the human heart is often
selfish and mean, when comp- ared with the lofty standard of divine love.
Here we gather texts on the various ways in which scripture instructs
people of faith to treat others and to properly love them. These include:
(1) an attitude of loving-kindness and compassion; (2) selfless service
for the sake of others; (3) sacrificial and suffering love; (4) the
principle of giving giving and receiving, that is, of giving first without
the purpose of receiving a return; (5) charity to the poor and hospitality
to strangers; (6) forgiveness of those who do us wrong and tolerance of
others' failings; (7) cautions against judging others, for who is without
fault?; (8) loving your enemy and requiting evil with good; (9) turning
the other cheek; (10) good works; (11) honest labor and good industry
which benefits the community as well as oneself; (12) honesty and
truthfulness; and (13) witnessing to the Truth in order to share with
others the blessings of salvation.
|