Love

“If I have do not have love, then I gain nothing.” Corinthians 15

The English word “LOVE” is often used generally for everything.

I can say that I ‘love’ my parents

And at the same time say I ‘love’ my morning cup of Keurig coffee.

In order to understand the word love

We have to use to the Greek Language.

You may know that there are three types of love in the Greek language.

Agape, Eros, and Philia.

Agape can be described as unconditional love.

Eros can be described as a love between man and woman.

Philia can be described as a love for a friend.

One way we understand the word ‘love’

Is with the help of our Holy Father.

Pope Benedict XVI, wrote about love

In the encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is love).

Interestingly, he focuses on the relationship between Agape and Eros.

The pope quoted the German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. 

This is the quote: “Christians had poisoned eros, which for its part,

While not completely succumbing, gradually degenerated into vice.”

“The Holy Father explains that the German Philosopher

Was expressing a widely-held perception:

Doesn’t the Church, with all her commandments and prohibitions

Turn to bitterness the most precious thing in life?

Doesn’t she blow the whistle

Just when the joy, which is the Creator’s gift,

Offers us a happiness which is itself

A certain foretaste of the Divine?”

In other words, the Church was accused of destroying Eros.

The Holy Father explains that this is not the case.

Eros in the Pre-Christian world was affiliated with Fertility Cults. 

In those places, human beings were exploited. 

Eros was misunderstood and needs to be disciplined and purified, he says.

He spoke about how important it was to acknowledge

That the human person is made of body and soul.

“Man is truly himself when his body and soul are intimately united.” 

This means that it works both ways.

If someone focuses on the soul alone without any concern for the body

Then both spirit and body loses its dignity.

If someone focuses on the body alone,

Then they lose their greatness and they are unable to ascend towards the Divine.

Both body and soul must be united. 

Now, Agape love is an ascending love.

Eros is a descending love.

And the Pope concludes they are both necessary for the human person.

Here is why.

Love in general is always seeking the good of the other.

Love looks to the eternal.

“Love is ‘ecstasy’ not in the sense of a moment of intoxication

But rather as a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed

Inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving,

And thus towards authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God.”

Jesus says: “Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it,

But whoever lose his life will preserve it.” 

Jesus also says: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies

It remains just a grain of wheat.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” 

Most of us understand that when we love,

We are seeking the good of the other. 

But we cannot give love, unless we have received it.

Love requires receiving and giving.

How then does it work?

Pope Gregory the great explains that

A Pastor must always be rooted in contemplation.

He uses the story of Moses.

When Moses was leading the people to the promised land,

Moses entered the Ark of the Covenant time and time again.

Moses remained always in dialogue with God.

So that when he came forth,

He could be at the service of his people. 

Love requires receiving and giving.

We are able to love others and make sacrifices for others,

When we are in constant dialogue with the Holy Trinity.

Through the great prayer, the Mass, Perpetual Adoration, Personal Devotions,

We remain in dialogue with God.

We know we are loved by our Lord.

That is grace.

It is until then that we love others.

Jesus says to the Apostles:
“Love one another as I have loved you.”