Cardinal Wyszyński about LOVE

photo. Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski Institute

Pearls and Aphorisms of Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński about LOVE.

1. Love is the world’s driving force. Only a human being, a rational and free being, who has this drive most strongly implanted, because he/she is in the image and likeness of God, can, however, resist against this attractive force of God’s Love. Then, Saint Augustine’s statement comes true: The human heart is restless until it rests in You…[i]
2. It is characteristic of love that, when given to man and well-received, it produces fruit a hundredfold and, through creation, it further multiplies, giving birth to new love. Just as a small seed bears a hundred grains, so a small fruit—a tree, and on this tree—thousands of fruits grow, and from these thousands of fruits, hundreds of thousands of seeds and, in turn, from them hundreds of thousands of trees, and again millions of fruits, so it is with love… Love grows![ii]
3. Love must be tested like gold in fire. Only, small love crumbles in the heat of trials. Great love purifies itself and lights up. Now, God wants great love from us.[iii]
4. True love does not speak much. It looks, smiles, acts discreetly so that no one will see or notice it… It brings inner relief and mutual freedom. Most importantly, love gives freedom because it is freedom.[iv]
5. Love is extremely subtle and discreet. It does not like any declarations and statements. It simply exists and lasts. It is present, as we are aware of the presence of a loving God. The greatest joy comes from the fact that He exists and that He is Love. God never reminds us or tells us about it. It is enough that He there is…[v]
6. … Love is always hurrying. It is always in a hurry, it wants “earlier,” a bit earlier … On Good Friday, as we just started singing to the glory of the cross: Venite adoremus, we suddenly felt that it was lighter for us. It is not even necessary to wait until we have removed the cross from our shoulders. Simply by accepting it, it becomes lighter. Love is always in a hurry… That is why Christ puts an end to our misery sooner than we expect.[vi]
7. Goodness and also love, although they satisfy the needs of the heart, never speak enough—neither to those who have experienced it nor to those who show it.[vii]
8. People are always changed by love. They become beautiful without even knowing it. They give a lot, but without doing it intentionally. They work involuntarily, although they do not plan their acts. The Love of God, poured out by the Holy Spirit living in us, is at work through them.[viii]
9. Since people constantly need more love, they have the opportunity of calculating how much others need it. For me, a little love may suffice, others need more of it. Quarrelsome, mean, angry, and nagging people are the kind who need a lot of love. Apparently, no one has shown it to them, at least to the extent of their need. They have a great need for love; just any dose is not enough for them. So, I have to go beyond myself, go out of my way, to reach the measure that others need.[ix]
10. The world exists because of love, and the human person exists because of love. And if something exits, it is a sign that someone loves, that he sustains it with his love.[x]
11. The greatest unknown part of a person: the heart. It is so wonderful that God seeks it. So powerful that it can resist against the love of the Almighty. So soft that it is caught in the nets by more than one weakness. So crazy that it can destroy all happiness and order. So faithful that even perverse infidelity cannot discourage it. So naive that is lured by every joy. So wide that it can contain all contradictions. And this is so in almost every human being, and almost in a twinkle of the eye … But a person is a hundred times greater, for he can rule over it. And God? He is the only one who knows the paths to the most secretive heart. And that is why, on the cross, man opened God’s heart to know his “thoughts” – cogitationes.[xi]
12. Open the door of the human heart and you will find that the need for love is greater than the need for our daily bread; a man can somehow survive the winter without bread, but not without love.[xii]
13. We came into being through love, and through love, we strive towards God who is Love.[xiii]
14. … An atmosphere of great love, faith, and trust is needed everywhere. In the family and in the parish, at school and in orphanages, in kindergarten, and everywhere else. What good is it to have great schools if there is no heart and no freedom, if there is no place for God? And what use are radiant kindergartens if no one there has a motherly heart?[xiv]
15. Almost all the works in which love is involved are difficult, because love, although wonderful, is not easy. Loving well is not easy! Showing love is hard! Living in love – oh! That is a task that requires great personal culture. Arranging social life in love requires, above all, the sacrifices and dedication of those who want to arrange it that way.[xv]
16. Every moment can and must be filled with love. The value of life and its greatness depend on how we fill every moment with love. If it is long, it is the special goodness of God who provides more moments to be filled with love.[xvi]
17. Love is like a flower. A flower develops, it cannot restrain its developmental powers. Love also becomes more powerful in a person. If this is the case in every being, in the lily of the field, in the grass that is today and tomorrow it will be thrown into the fire, how much more in us, who have little faith, can it grow stronger. Sometimes it becomes so great that—as we know from the lives of saints and others who are perhaps not saints—it cannot be mastered or held back, it cannot be constricted, but it must blossom.[xvii]
18. It is characteristic of love that, although it is full of joy and does not need anything, it still wants to contribute. A loving person reveals his love; the beloved one reveals his joy, smiling at everyone; the man who loves and is loved wants this love to be shown outside. Now, this is even more so with the Most Holy Love, which is God![xviii]
19. Only love gives life. Hatred leads to cemeteries. Love leads to a new life.[xix]
20. There is one moral principle that binds everyone: “Love, and do what you want,” that is, try to interpret through love everything you do, all your business; try to animate with love every word, every look, every movement. For even if faith fails, even if hope fades, love does not cease.[xx]
21. Love must be our lifestyle. We are to respond to all doctrines of hatred with love. For the one who loves wins, not the one who justifies his doctrines wisely, for they pass away, but love lasts.[xxi]
22. We would not be in the world (…) if God the Father had not loved each of us first. He loved you before your mother saw you in her arms, before she cuddled you to her breast. Know that it was not her love for you that was the first, but that of the heavenly Father, who instilled His love in your mother’s heart, and she only passed it on to you.[xxii]

[i] Miłość I, 25.

[ii] Ibid., 28.

[iii] Ibid., 73.

[iv] Ibid., 266.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Miłość II, 8; Matka Syna, 110.

[vii] Miłość II, 25.

[viii] Ibid., 55.

[ix] Ibid.

[x] Sermon on the Solemnity of Pentecost. Laski, 13 June 1943. Typescript.

[xi] Stoczek Warmiński, 1 June 1954, Zapiski, 75.

[xii] Ibid.

[xiii] Address on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the 5^th centennial of the city. Skierniewicze, 8 September 1957. KP 3, 5.

[xiv] We need heroes like John Bosco. Warsaw, Basilica of the Heart of Jesus, 31 January 1960. Wielka, 259.

[xv] Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis! Laski, 19 May 1961. KP 8, 249.

[xvi] To my father… Warsaw, chapel in the Primate’s house, 1 April 1963. KP 14, 8.

[xvii] Aperiatur terra et germinet salvatora. Warsaw, 23 December 1964. KP 18, 401.

[xviii] Degeneration of fatherhood in the cradle of Polish Christianity. Gniezno, Primate’s basilica, 1 January 1965. Ibid., 7.

[xix] First Jasna Góra Appeal of the new millennium, “Mandatum novum”. Jasna Góra, 3 May 1966. Głos, 203.

[xx] Discourse to the actors of the Warsaw theaters. Warsaw, Primate’s house, 10 January 1971. Ibid., 50.

[xxi] In the first Temple of the Mother of the Church – in Poland. Kalisz, 13 October 1972. KP 41, 140.

[xxii] “Time is love.” Jasna Góra, 15 August 1979. Głos, 442.