“What I loved in the beginning, I think, was mostly myself.
Never mind that I had to, since somebody had to.
That was many years ago.
Since then I have gone out from my confinements,
though with difficulty.
I mean the ones that thought to rule my heart.
I cast them out, I put them on the mush pile.
They will be nourishment somehow (everything is nourishment
somehow or another.)And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned
I have become younger.And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.”—Mary Oliver, “To Begin With, The Sweet Grass”
Today, let’s think about love. Not the tender love between people in close relationship to one another. Rather, the fiercely inclusive love that undergirds the ideals of social justice, nonviolence and integral ecology. The kind Pope Francis references when he writes in Laudato Si’:
“A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings.”
—Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, Chapter 2, paragraph 91
And when he says:
“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.”
—Chapter 6, paragraph 229
Mary Oliver, as always, provides some clarity—we grow in our understanding of love over time. We may begin by loving ourselves, which is good. But it isn’t the highest good. “Love yourself. Then forget it,” she says.
“Then, love the world.”
Sometimes, images help us touch that fierce love held deep within. Here are two short videos to help activate love, compassion and concern. May we all love the world fiercely today.
The Breathtaking beauty of nature (2:39): https://youtu.be/IUN664s7N-c
Faces from around the world (2:20): https://youtu.be/Xygk7UjKM2g
—Jenifer Hanson, Prairiewoods director