As I have loved you, so you must love one another. No one has greater love than the one who lays down their life for their friends (…) When I reflected on these words of Jesus, I realized how imperfect my love for my sisters is; I saw that I do not love them as good God loves them. Oh, now I understand that perfect love consists in bearing the faults of others, that we do not marvel at their weaknesses, that we are uplifted by even the smallest virtuous acts we see in them, but above all I understood that love must not remain locked at the bottom of the heart.
(Therese of Lisieux, Ms. C, 12r)
