Man comes, in the most profound sense, to himself, not through what he does, but through what he accepts. He must wait for the gift of love, and love can only be received as a gift. It cannot be “made” on one’s own, without anyone else; one must wait for it, let it be given. And one cannot become wholly human in any other way than by being loved. By letting oneself be loved.
Love represents simultaneously both man’s highest possibility and his deepest need and this most necessary thing is at the same time the freest and the most unenforceable.
Ratzinger, Cardinal Joseph. Introduction to Christianity. ( pp. 266-267)
Drinking From The Mountain Stream 