What is Love? Virgil
– Love conquers all Beatles – All you
need is love Aquinas – to love is to
will the good of the other.
Danny – Love is when my mom makes coffee for my dad, and she
takes a sip before giving it to him to make sure it is OK
Elaine – Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and
still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.
Mary Ann – Love is when your puppy licks your face even after
you have left him alone all day
Bobby – Love is what is in the room with you at Christmas if
you stop opening presents and listen.
Jenny – There are 2 kinds of love. God’s love. Our love. But
God makes both kinds
Today Jesus is asked – what is the greatest commandment? Scholars had gone through the Torah and found
613. You shall = 248 You shall not = 365 some were light – like dietary &
cleansing laws Others heavy - like
10 commandments So what is the
greatest commandment
No surprising – Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy - Shema – Hear
O Israel But then quotes from
Leviticus – the Code of Holiness - Love neighbor as self. Like a door with 2 hinges – one hinge
breaks, door does not work very well.
But what does it mean to Love?
Greeks did not have one word for love
1)
Xenia
- hospitality & gratitude
2)
Storge
– kinship or family, like parent/child
3)
Philia
– friendship
4)
Eros
– romantic desire
5)
Agape
– self emptying – divine love
Agape – God’s love – the hardest kind of love – has nothing
to do with liking – but to look deeper and see the presence of Christ in the
other.
Dorothy Day used to say “love is a harsh and dreadful thing
in practice compared to love in dreams.
A mother speaks of rocking her 4 year old in a rocking
chair. Suddenly, he lifted his head and
stared at his mother. Mommy, I am in
your eyes! He had seem his own
reflection, and clearly he was moved. After several long moments, she said –
and I am in yours! In the days that
followed, every now and then the boy would look at his mom and ask, Mommy, am I
still in your eyes?
The boy was learning to love, as we have all learned to love.
We saw ourselves in someone else’s eyes.
Isn’t it comforting to know we are still in our heavenly Father’s eyes?
