The Way to Love

212 Pages·1995·15.23 MB·English

by  Anthony de Mello

THE WAY
A
TO LOVE
The hast Meditations of
Anthony de Mello

to
^ove
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2013
http://archive.org/details/waytolovelasOOdeme_0
^ove
to
The Last Meditations
ofAnthony de Mello
Image Books
Doubleday
New York London Toronto Sydney Auckland
An Image Book
published b ^• o u b l e d a \'
a division ofBantam Doublcday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036
Image, Doubleimy, and the portrayal ofa deer drinking
from a stream are trademarks ofDoubleday, a division of
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
The Way to Love was originally published as Call to Love in India in 1991 by
Gujaret Sahitya Prakash and was published in a hardcover edition by
Doubleday in 1992.
This Image Books edition published June 1995
by special arrangement with Doubleday.
Imprimipotest: Lisbert D'Souza, S.J.
ProvincialofBombay
March 11, 1991
Imprimatur: ^Stanislaus Fernandes, S.J.
Bishop ofAhmedahad
March 18, 1991
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
De Mello, Anthony, I93I-
[Call to love]
The way to love: the last meditations ofAnthony de Mello.
p. cm.
Originally published: Call to love. India: Gujrat Sahitya Prakash, 1991.
"Image books."
I. Meditations. 1. Title.
[BX2182.2.D3868 1995] 94-23993
242-^c20 CIP
ISBN 0-385-24939-X
©
Copyright 1991 by Gujarat Sahitya Prakash ofAnand, India
©
Introduction copyright 1992 by Francis Stroud
J.
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
15 17 19 20 18 16
Contents
Introduction vii
Profit and Loss I
Discipleship 5
The Extra Mile 13
He Went Away Sad 19
The Eye of a Needle 27
Nowhere to Go 33
Bring in the Poor 37
The Blind See 43
Heaven at Hand 49
What Must Do? 55
I
No
Stone Will Be Left 61
How to Give? 69
Serpents and Doves 75
Men of Violence 81
pi Contents
Show No Partiality 87
One Teacher 93
Become Like Children 99
Love One Another 105
No Looking Back III
Love Your Enemies 117
Tax Collectors and Sinners 123
Be Awake 131
The Mountain of Prayer 137
Judge Not 143
Pluck Out the Eye 147
Suffering and Glory 157
Fire on the Earth 161
Consider the Lilies 171
Lost and Found 177
The Lamp of the Body 183
Be Ready 191
(introduction
^
\ I /Iears ago, when I first heard of Tony de
^—^^Mello, SJ., I didn't believe what I
heard- The story I am about to tell has
bearing on the book you are about to read.
I was told that Tony gave a retreat to sixty
fellow Jesuit priests and spoke to them six hours a
day for eight days. I remember saying, **No Jesuit
listens to another Jesuit six hours a day for eight
days," When the fact was insisted on, I remember
asking, **Who made that retreat?" The names of
some very impressive Jesuits (impressive, at least,
to me) were mentioned. It was then, like doubting
Thomas in the Scriptures, I said, ''This I have to
see and hear for myself."
Thus began the journey with the man who
via Q^ntroBuction
would affect my life so profoundly that, years
later, I wouldn't even recognize the person I was
those years past. And not I alone, but thousands
of others like me.
The occasion of my first meeting Tony de
Mello now seems rather prosaic. He was asked to
give a weekend retreat to a group of lay people.
He agreed to do this on his way back to India
from Rome. I asked to be put on that retreat just
to meet and experience the man. It was an unfor-
gettable weekend up in Saddle River, New Jersey,
amid the snows of February.
I will never forget the feeling ofliberation; the
sense he made of spirituality, of prayer, of the
meaning of life; his humor; his marvelous story-
telling. And it was all done in such a personal
style. Years later, when he was speaking by televi-
sion satellite to more than three thousand college
students, he maintained that personal style.
*'About twelve years ago," he remarked, *1 discov-
ered something that revolutionized my life.*' He
had met a rickshaw driver in Calcutta named Rin-