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One of the most paradoxical things about humans is that our enormous capacity for generosity and selfless love is matched by an astounding capacity for cruelty, greed, and destructiveness. To be human is to carry the seeds of great good and great evil, great light and great darkness, great creativity and great destructiveness. For every Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King we have one Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler. For every person squandering their life on spreading love, we have those who destroy their own lives and those of countless others as they spread hatred and destruction. It is tempting to think in binary terms about good and evil but I must understand that the capacity of both good and evil lies within me.

When my heart is full of love and hope, there is no room for fear. My faith draws me into gratitude and abundance and away from despair. But I am keenly aware that there are many paths to follow that lead to the same end. We need a good guide to lead us, to show us the way, the truth, and the life. The Spirit which lives in our hearts guides us in loving kindness, showing us the path to our best selves which is living in wholeness. When we cooperate with the Spirit, we allow God’s much needed light to shine in our soul-sucking world.

Living the spiritual life is to allow space -space for what the Spirit brings to the moment. As I’m growing in wholeness, I allow room for the space for presence and listening. I don’t feel the need to fix or change the person in front of me, or offer unwelcome suggestions. I can just be alongside those in my path in love and kindness.

There is a simple way to see if I am living in a place of loving myself.  Am I making good, life-giving choices for myself, stoking the fires within to bring my best self to the world? Are my thoughts, words, and actions kind? If not, I need to adjust my heart.

To show mercy means to have compassion for someone who should be punished or could be treated harshly. It means showing undeserved forgiveness or kindness. Mercy is given by a person in authority, who is also often the one who has been wronged. To show mercy is to offer relief to someone in a miserable state.

How many times in a moment do I say I’m going to do something and then get distracted and don’t follow through? , This can include instances when I’m hanging onto anger towards someone that I need to let go. Recently I was pondering this thought by St. Camille’s about what commitment means.  “Commitment is doing what you said you would do, after the feeling you said it in has passed.” Integrity is a quality of love.