"Love as the first motion"

For a long time I have had the quote by Harold Loukes, which is at the top of this blog, as the "signature" of all my e-mails. I liked it so much that I added it to my blog, but the writing is so small that I wonder if anyone ever reads it.

"An act of love that fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that succeeds, for love is measured by its own fullness, not by its reception."

When I first found this beautiful quote, I looked up "Harold Loukes" on Google. He was a British Quaker who lived a long life: 1912-1980. He wrote books about Quaker life and education. That is what I have pieced together. Plus, I found something else he wrote that someone quoted:

"We live in a rationalist society that has shed the security of dogmas it found it could not accept, and now finds itself afraid of its own freedom. Some look for an external authority, as they did of old; but in this situation there are many who cannot just go backwards. They ask for an authority they can accept without the loss of their own integrity: they ask to be talked to in a language they can understand... With these people our point of departure is not a mighty proclamation of Truth, but the humble invitation to sit down together and share what we have found, in the spirit of Woolman setting out on his Indian journey, 'that I might feel and understand their life, and the spirit they live in, if haply I might receive some instruction from them.' We approach them without pressure to accept a statement, or with proselytising zeal, but with 'love as the first motion'."

Harold Loukes, 1955

Woolman's instructions about visiting the Indians, "that I might feel and understand their life, and the spirit they live in, if haply I might receive some instruction from them," describe how our group from Oblate School of Theology went to Zambia in June 2006. We prepared ourselves beforehand by reading and learning, and then went to places where Oblates of Mary Immaculate priests had churches and outposts. We were there to learn about the people and help wherever we were needed. Visiting far flung villages, where there were so many orphans from AIDS deaths, our eyes and our hearts were opened. When I saw a two-week old baby lying on a twin-bed in an orphanage for AIDS orphans, I wanted to take care of her. I can still see this baby, who had no parents. So many lost children. Pray for them.

My mind is a muddle of memories--mud huts, no roads, poverty, grandmothers caring for so many children, absence of men in villages, no jobs, children touching my hand. We were always asked, "How are you?" with the person waiting for us to answer.

And we Americans, with all of our resources, ask that and walk away before anyone answers. . . . Is this "love as the first motion?" "Love is measured by its own fullness, not by its reception."