Joining in Consecration

Jean Luc Marion, in a commentary on vanity in The Erotic Phenomenon, scotches the idea that one can confer dignity on oneself. "It is not the certainty of my existence that I require; rather, it is the assurance of my significance or my value." Eoin Cassidy, "Le phenomene erotique: Augustinian Resonances in Marion's Phenomenology of Love," in Givenness and God, (Fordham: 2005), at pp. 206-07.

"I can love myself because I receive assurance from somewhere else -- I discover myself lovable through the gift or the call of another.

"In a reflection that [] looks towards Levinas, Marion draws a phrase from Isaiah 6:8, 'Here I am (me voici), to highlight the manner in which significance is mutually given in word or in silence. The only assurance that I want or need is love -- the assurance of my dignity as a lover. This assurance is both received and given in the 'me voici' that surges forth as a pledge of eternal love. In and through this pledge or covenant, the 'I' or the ego is actually reborn as lover and beloved. In a manner of speaking, I receive my significance the moment the other consecrates me as a lover -- a consecration that finds its articulation in the exclamation, 'Come!'

"The questions that this issue brings to the surface are nothing less that those of self-identity. Marion contends [] that only a question that [] brings to the surface issues of value and purpose - is adequate to sketch the appropriate contours of self-identity. Such a question is 'Does anyone love me?' Thus Marion concurs with Augustine that only within the framework of love can one legitimately ask, 'Who am I'?" Ibid.

"In placing empasis on the other and, indeed, the otherness of the other, this question exposes the vulnerability, the lack of certainty, that marks the human situation, and acknowledges the truth of the insight that self-identity and, indeed, self-love is something that is received rather than achieved. . . it is [] the other, who is the ultimate guardian of my identity."

To my friend, thank you for "consecrating" me with the touch of your friendship! In discovering more, in love, who I am, may I better hear God's call to dwell in Love, and to consecrate my own others . . . including you . . . in the care, concern, forgiveness and joy (among so many other attributes) that love excites.

Listen to George Winston, "Peace"

Listen to George Winston, "Night"

Listen to George Winston, "Love Echoes in the Pine Hills"

Listen to George Winston, "December"

Listen to George Winston, "Hummingbird"

Listen to George Winston, "Thanksgiving"

Listen to George Winston, "Living Without You"

Listen to "Looking Through the Eyes of Love," sung by Regine Valesquez