Love

Authentic love comes from God. He is love. He defines what real love is. The word love is often used to describe something that it is not. It is used to legitimize what amounts to selfishness. If a person makes another one feel good and happy, then that is love. Not so. Love is selfless. There is a difference from agape and eros. The first is the love that has its source in the love among the three persons of the holy Trinity. This is the love which Christ said Christians must have for one another, It seeks nothing for itself but only the good of the one loved. Eros looks for its own benefit; self-satisfaction is its object. 

Last March, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, said that love suffers today because agape is separated from eros. It is reduced to the profane because it is divorced from God. (March 25, 2011, Rome)

God’s love is perfect. The three Divine Persons love each other perfectly, selflessly. When God created us, He did so out of selfless love. He did not need us. His purpose was to share his own life and love with us. So, to love properly, we have to reflect God’s love. When a man and a woman have this love, their objective is the good of the other even though they receive satisfaction from this love. Out of this selfless love comes the gift of children. That is the way God intends it to be. The beautiful love of husband and wife blossoms out into a family.

True love is full of life; it leads to life. Conversely, disordered love is not love at all; it is an abomination. It leads to death. Because it based on selfishness, it is the cause of the end of many marriages. Furthermore, it is the reason why the institution of marriage is being threatened these days.

If we could appreciate more the love that God has for each of us, we would be ecstatic. We could not help but return that same love to Him.

Father Stanley