What is love?

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Love (as the world means it) is not love (as Christ means it). We are also created by/with/for man, our fellow human beings, and creations of God. The Christian life does not make sense with just God and ourselves. God invites us to share in his life, i.e. to demonstrate, experience, and live by love. Love places no limits, as is pertaining to the very substance of God. In and ever since man's fall, man has assumed concern. but why should I worry about the well-being of others? Can it be love if you are not concerned for one another? Love is willing the good of the other independent of/in spite of self.

Indeed, God created man as a whole for Himself, out of pure selflessness. Not for any need of His own but of generosity. Although, each individual, one can expect, is not only created just for God, though indeed they are, but also for one's fellow man. In so far as The Christian has never been his own, however, this does not mean to say we have no relevance to our neighbor. Indeed, our relationship with our neighbor is less significant than to God. But that does not imply that subordination and irrelevance are equivocal terms. Children are born in need of their parents, the poor in need of the wealthy, the unwell in need of the well, the uneducated in need of the educated, etc. Our good is found thus in helping each other live healthily, happily, and with holiness even when difficult. The aspect of our good that lies in the other is not sexual, and even with a spouse of the naturally opposite/complementary sex, most of the time is still is not. The good of the other is not something we can instantly apprehend without deep knowledge of the person in addition to knowing a person's needs, being made for God and eternity.

Man needs God but also a man! A priest has no calling if not to others, neither a consecrated religious nor a parent or spouse. God has no use for you if not to help him restore His creation (which we continue to mess up). The whole of what God asks of every human being can be summarized in two commands: Love God with all you have, and man as much as yourself (whom you should love as God does). This is no accident! We cannot reduce our life to just our relationship with God without also mentioning that God is present in others. Indeed, He calls us to Him in prayer and relationship; and to serve Him with/through others. None of these are self-interested callings and contrary to popular belief self-sacrifice is self-apprehension i.e of the self we desire to be most of all. Contrarily, self-interest evanesces the self we wish to be.

In conclusion, our lives cannot simply be understood in ourselves. God does not call us to just be good people. He does not just call us to be cordial with others. Rather, He calls us to live for others. Should we not care where our fellow man spends their eternity? Truly, if we find ourselves indifferent in any way to the lives of others, then we are not loving as much as we could. “At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love" (CCC 1022; by St. John of the Cross)” If we are to truly love God, then we must love our brethren(cf. 1 John 4:20). Do we go out of our way to help those in need or turn our back on those who need us? We are meant to grow together and to serve God in one another. We cannot serve God without serving others. It is impossible for the "wealthy" (those how would hold to something other than God) to gain access to heaven. To gain this we must give it back to God not only in prayer but also through others. We cannot justify giving up on others simply because they disagree with us, they hurt us, etc., and still say we have loved. Indeed in those moments, we have not loved God and have truly given up on Him. If we cannot love whence it be difficult then whence shall we know we have loved?

Withering Happiness by Levi M. Evelyn

I have a bag of golden happiness
Flowering and bright, Hope and Light
I have a bag of golden happiness

I walk around and watch the sad sounds
And offer one of my flowering beauties
To the weeping widow trees
That like to grow around me

And I look back as I walk away
Anguish coming into play
Because that happiness will wither and die
I know because of something I used to try

It will go away in less than a day
Because I cannot fix people in anyway
And it’s not my job to either

But still I give the velvet sunshine
To soothe my guilty heart
And hope that one day
My golden happiness won’t go away
I am a Theology major attending Holy Apostles College and Seminary. I am a Knight of Columbus and a Newman Ambassador for Pius XII Newman Center.

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