Sanctity

[Lady Smith]

I thought I would share this quote from the writings of Dom Hubert van Zeller (1905–1984) a Benedictine monk.
With all the stupidity going on at present with so-called religious freedom legislation I thought it was especially relevant.

Now sanctity cannot take root where there are suspicions and the deliberate refusal to see the other person's point of view.  A readiness to understand - which supposes a readiness to make allowances for what genuinely cannot be understood - is an absolute condition of charity.  You cannot raise up a sanctity where there is no foundation of understanding.  It goes by other names (such as sympathy, longsuffering, harmony, consideration, patience, compassion) but the many sides of understanding and tolerance amount to only one thing: charity.