The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular.
God has, in fact, thought of us from eternity and has loved us as unique individuals. He has called every one of us by name, as the Good Shepherd 'calls His sheep by name.'
I think the key to being a good parent is to individualize your love for each child.
One can't love humanity. One can only love people.
I never looked at the masses as my responsibility. I can only love one person at a time. So I began. I picked up one person. Maybe if I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up forty-two thousand.
If there are people who feel that God wants them to change the structures of society, that is something between them and their God. We must serve him in whatever way we are called. I am called to help the individual; to love each poor person. Not to deal with institutions. I am in no position to judge.
God doesn't just love all of us. He loves each of us.
It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses.
The love of a single heart can make a world of difference.
I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one person at a time. Just one, one, one.
A community is an alibi for the failure of individual love.
No two love stories are the same though the love factor might be the same.
I feel called to help individuals, to love each human being. I never think in terms of crowds in general but in terms of persons. Were I to think about crowds, I would never begin anything.
Scripture starts with the particular and then universalizes it. You are called to love your concrete individual neighbor and then to realize that every individual is your neighbor. The point is not to destroy concrete neighborhood in a fit of universalism but to expand the local neighborhood and embrace the universal neighborhood.
I love my kids as individuals, not as a herd, and I do have a herd of children: I have seven kids.
I have ever hated all nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals.
My feelings for Raphael are mine, and mine alone. I loved him, and that is all anyone needs to know. The rest is no business of any man's.
How different this moment feels, for so many reasons. I tell myself that no two loves are identical - but that I don't have to compare anymore.
I think he loved us equally, but differently.
