YES, we need to fall in love. We would be harming ourselves
if we
don’t. We are made for it, wired and empowered for it. Love is the
purpose of our life, its end-all, its law and our true and ultimate
perfection.
That’s because God created us so. As image and likeness of his, we
cannot but reflect the love that constitutes the very essence of God.
“Deus caritas est,” St. John says.
That’s God’s design for us to which we have to correspond freely.
Love has to be repaid with love. Thus, when Christ was asked what the
greatest commandment was, he immediately responded that it was to love
God with all our might, and that the second greatest was to love our
neighbour, that is, everyone, as oneself.
Later on, Christ would perfect and summarize these commandments into
a new commandment: to love one another as he has loved us. Christ is
the standard, the law, the power of our love, and not anybody or
anything else—a beautiful girl, and much less, power, fame, wealth. To
Christian believers, we should not look for anything else.
That’s why there is always some embers of this essence in us, no
matter how inadequately recognized, incompletely developed, thwarted
or misdirected. We always tend to love, to at least pay attention to
others, to need them and do something for them. We cannot be by
ourselves all the time.
We need to work out this love to its fullness and its purest state.
We cannot be cavalier in our attitude toward it. It’s a serious duty,
in fact, the primary duty. All other duties and responsibilities flow
and derive their ultimate meaning from this.
Remember that beautiful and stirring warning of St. Paul?
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not
charity, I am become a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
“And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all
knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
“And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I
should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits
me nothing.” (1 Cor 13,1-3)
In short, we can appear very successful in many aspects and
departments of our life—and they can be no mean feats—but if not
inspired by love, the true love that is derived from God, all these
“successes” are actually failures.
In fact, this love should not be equated with mere philanthropy and
human altruism, no matter how heroic these gestures may appear. The
love that comes from God goes beyond all these and is and should be
their principle and end.
We need to be clear about this truth, because many are now the
elements that tend to confuse us about it, if not directly undermine
it. It’s painful to see many people, especially the young, who seem
trapped and locked up in the false, or at least, very reduced,
illusory, albeit sweet, understanding of love.
That is why we need to pray a lot, focus our attention on the life of
Christ, his words and deeds, and especially his passion, death and
resurrection, because these are where we can get the real ingredients
of the love meant for us.
This is the real love that can tackle everything, good or bad, big or
small, that we can meet in life. Again, let’s have St. Paul’s
beautiful description:
“Charity is patient, is kind. Charity envies not, deals not
perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeks not her own, is
not provoked to anger, thinks no evil. It rejoices not in iniquity,
but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13, 4-7)
We should not beat around the bush as to what love is and what role
it plays in our life. And toward this end, we have to make continuing
effort to clarify it in public and in private and personal
conversations, going through the endless implications, theoretical and
practical, that it possesses.
For one, we should prod everyone of us to love others aggressively,
that is, to think well of them, showing affection and understanding,
doing acts of service, even without being asked. We should not wait
for others to prove they deserve our love. We just have to love them,
even before they deserve it.
don’t. We are made for it, wired and empowered for it. Love is the
purpose of our life, its end-all, its law and our true and ultimate
perfection.
That’s because God created us so. As image and likeness of his, we
cannot but reflect the love that constitutes the very essence of God.
“Deus caritas est,” St. John says.
That’s God’s design for us to which we have to correspond freely.
Love has to be repaid with love. Thus, when Christ was asked what the
greatest commandment was, he immediately responded that it was to love
God with all our might, and that the second greatest was to love our
neighbour, that is, everyone, as oneself.
Later on, Christ would perfect and summarize these commandments into
a new commandment: to love one another as he has loved us. Christ is
the standard, the law, the power of our love, and not anybody or
anything else—a beautiful girl, and much less, power, fame, wealth. To
Christian believers, we should not look for anything else.
That’s why there is always some embers of this essence in us, no
matter how inadequately recognized, incompletely developed, thwarted
or misdirected. We always tend to love, to at least pay attention to
others, to need them and do something for them. We cannot be by
ourselves all the time.
We need to work out this love to its fullness and its purest state.
We cannot be cavalier in our attitude toward it. It’s a serious duty,
in fact, the primary duty. All other duties and responsibilities flow
and derive their ultimate meaning from this.
Remember that beautiful and stirring warning of St. Paul?
“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not
charity, I am become a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
“And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all
knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
“And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I
should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits
me nothing.” (1 Cor 13,1-3)
In short, we can appear very successful in many aspects and
departments of our life—and they can be no mean feats—but if not
inspired by love, the true love that is derived from God, all these
“successes” are actually failures.
In fact, this love should not be equated with mere philanthropy and
human altruism, no matter how heroic these gestures may appear. The
love that comes from God goes beyond all these and is and should be
their principle and end.
We need to be clear about this truth, because many are now the
elements that tend to confuse us about it, if not directly undermine
it. It’s painful to see many people, especially the young, who seem
trapped and locked up in the false, or at least, very reduced,
illusory, albeit sweet, understanding of love.
That is why we need to pray a lot, focus our attention on the life of
Christ, his words and deeds, and especially his passion, death and
resurrection, because these are where we can get the real ingredients
of the love meant for us.
This is the real love that can tackle everything, good or bad, big or
small, that we can meet in life. Again, let’s have St. Paul’s
beautiful description:
“Charity is patient, is kind. Charity envies not, deals not
perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeks not her own, is
not provoked to anger, thinks no evil. It rejoices not in iniquity,
but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13, 4-7)
We should not beat around the bush as to what love is and what role
it plays in our life. And toward this end, we have to make continuing
effort to clarify it in public and in private and personal
conversations, going through the endless implications, theoretical and
practical, that it possesses.
For one, we should prod everyone of us to love others aggressively,
that is, to think well of them, showing affection and understanding,
doing acts of service, even without being asked. We should not wait
for others to prove they deserve our love. We just have to love them,
even before they deserve it.
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