Our heart is enlarged. For as heat makes things expand, so it is the work of
love to expand the heart, for its power is to heat and make fervent. It is this
that opened Paul’s lips and enlarged his heart. For I do not love only in words; he means, but my loving heart too is in
unison with my words; and so I speak with confidence, without restraint or
reserve.There was nothing more capacious than the heart of Paul, for he
loved all the faithful with as intimate a love as any lover could have for a
loved one, his love not being divided and lessened but remaining whole and
entire for each of them. And what marvel is it that his love for the faithful
was such, since his heart embraced the unbelievers, too, throughout the whole
world?
So he did not just say, “I love you,” but with greater
emphasis: Our mouth is open,
our heart is enlarged; we
hold you all in it, and not only that, but with room for you to move freely.
For those who are loved enter fearlessly into the heart of their lover. And
therefore he says: You are not
constrained because of us, but you are constrained in your own affections. See how this reproach is tempered with
much forbearance, as is the way with those who love much. For he did not say: You do not love me, but you
do not love me in the same measure; for
he did not want to charge them more harshly.
Indeed one may see with what a wonderful love for the
faithful he is always inflamed, as one finds proof of it in all his writings.
To the Romans he says: I
desire to see you, and I have often planned to come to you, and if
by any means at last I may succeed in reaching you. To the Galatians he says: My little children, with whom I am
again in labour; to the
Ephesians: For this reason I
bend my knees on your behalf; and
to the Thessalonians: What is
my hope and my crown of glory? Is it not yourselves? For he used to say that he carried
them about in his heart and in his chains.
Again he writes to the Colossians: I want you to know how greatly I
strive for you and for all who have not seen my face; and to the Thessalonians: Like a nurse taking care of her
children, being desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the
Gospel but also our own selves. So
too he says: You are not
restricted by us. And so Paul
does not merely say that he loves them but also that they love him, so that in
this way he may draw them to him. Indeed, to the Corinthians he bears witness
of this love when he says:Titus came, telling us of your longing, your
mourning, your zeal for me.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
From a Homily on the 2nd letter to the Corinthians
by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
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