Knowing ourselves to be the beloved of God carries immediate personal, spiritual and social implications. As people of contemplative prayer, for example, we listen attentively, in the silence of our hearts, to the loving, consoling voice of God. We listen to that voice from heaven tell us that we are God's beloved, and we come to realize that every other human being in history is a beloved son or daughter of God as well. From now on these "others" are our beloved sisters and brothers. We love everyone and refuse to hurt or kill or remain silent in the face of human suffering and oppression. The revolution of transforming love has begun. We have entered what Henri Nouwen calls "the Life of the Beloved."
— John Dear, Jesus the Rebel