"What do we mean by love? poses 19th Century founder of the Society of St. John the Evangelist at Coxley, Oxford, Richard Meux Benson:
"It is love whereby we exist not for ourselves but for others.
It is love whereby we rejoice in contemplating others' perfections as truly as if they were our own.
It is love whereby we acknowledge our obligations to others and seek to make return for them for all the good we have received.
The heart must confess that there is a sense of unity involving the moral obligation of love which binds us to the whole human race...
They are the totality out of which we have emerged, and we perish in the void if we seek to live as individuals for ourselves alone."
(quoted in Meditating on the Word, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, page 18, 19)
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