To what extent are humans capable of love? The world is full of people who claim to have loved deeply and have been betrayed.

Therefore, because of being disappointed they quit loving. Some of them have responded by going into depression of difficult treatment. Others began to offer their indifference to all.

It is as if they had replaced the ability to feel by a cold, heartless stone.

So when we read about the extreme love of some people, when we hear reports of some acts of love, it almost seems impossible to us.

It cannot be true that someone loves to the point of forgiving aggression received from the very same people that they are devoted to.

This was the astonishment of that young woman who entered the infirmary, where there were about thirty people suffering from leprosy.

It was more a place where the sick were welcomed and supported than truly something that could resemble a hospital. The missionaries did not have all the resources that would be needed for those patients.

The young woman saw a nun approach one of the patients to politely ask him to dispose of his mat for a man who had just had his leg amputated.

For that group of men that sounded really bad. Someone shouted: We are human! We want a hospital, not a place to die!

One of them stepped forward and struck the knees of the missionary with his head. And a flood of canes, crutches, and bandages flew towards her.

Bottles burst against the walls.

Hands clenched on her breast, the lady remained motionless as a statue before the unbridled outburst. It was the revolt of those who are in total despair.

Incredibly quiet, with her serene eyes, Nun Bandona, whose name means God's Worship, began to pray out aloud:

Oh loving God, have mercy on Thy children who suffer. Oh God of love, give them Your mercy.

Disconcerted, the rebels were silent. The uproar subsided, and then stopped.

The hatred that twisted faces gave rise to concern.

What punishment would they receive for all that aggression?

The lepers saw the missionary move towards the first mat.

And passing slowly between the rows of treadmills, she asked each occupant to repeat after her the prayer she would recite.

The girl, who watched everything protected behind a column, would remember for a long time the scene of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians, tortured by pain, reciting together, sentence after sentence, in restored peace, the words of the Our Father.

*   *   *

Love one another, Jesus taught. Those who exercise His teaching love far beyond human comprehension.

They understand the pain of others, the despair in the form of revolt, and they simply offer the sublime feeling of love.

Think about it. Let us meditate a bit more about the meaning of true love.

Spiritist Moment Team, based on chapter
10 of the book Muito além do amor,
by Dominique Lapierre, published by Salamandra.
June 04.2012.