The bond of all perfection is love

"On the cross, Christ 'summed up' in one sacrificial act His whole life and His whole love. In His life and death, He 'sums up' the whole life and destiny of His Church, and also the whole life and death of each member of that Church. There is, of course, individual diversity between the members but there is also a fundamental unity of pattern. To see it, one must first look below the surface of the individuating differences to observe the common pattern, and then stand back far enough from the complete unity to see it as a whole; for unless something of the consummation be glimpsed, there is difficulty in seeing the full significance of the individual destiny and of the common bond.

For the common bond - the bond of all perfection - is love, and the magnificence of the whole is the unity of love. The model according to which the whole is designed is the Blessed Trinity itself - that they may be one as we also are one. And the final consummation and achievement of the whole is summed up one one daring pregnant phrase of St Augustine: And there shall be one Christ loving Himself. For 'no one can love the Father unless he love the Son and he who loves the Son... loves also the members of the Son. And by loving he too becomes a member; through love he enters into the unity of the Body of Christ - and there shall be one Christ loving Himself - for when the members love one another, the body loves itself.'"

-- This Tremendous Lover by Fr Eugene M Boylan, ocso