How is it they live for eons in such harmony–the billions of stars–when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their mind against someone they know? — St. Thomas Aquinas.
I find that one of my struggles is to not become cynical or hardened. When we were young we took words and actions at face value, it is only after time we begin to doubt people’s motives and intentions. We learn that people lie and don’t always love their neighbors. As St. Thomas says we barely go a minute without declaring war.
St Thomas in his poem, We are fields before each other, asks: “How can we live in harmony?” Later he suggests, “First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.”
He may be right, he certainly studied the scriptures more than I, but as for me and my struggles against age driven cynicism and hardening of my heart I identify more with Jesus’s words, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children.” (Matthew 18:3).
To become like little children, now that’s something I can get my head around.
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