Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Features of Love

Love is a subjective concept because it doesn't mean the same thing to different people. We obviously love different people, and we love people for different reasons. It's impossible to objectify love because it must apply to a specific people or objects.  For example, we don't just say "I feel love", but rather "I love" someone, because love is not a concept that we feel objectively, but a subjective feeling towards something. This isn't to say that there aren't similar components between the way people love others, but just means that each subject, or each person, must engage in the act of loving; no one can do it for another person. 

The Church's understanding of love is two-fold. One part comes from the Christ's New Commandment: love your neighbor as yourself.  This basically implies the Golden Rule, treat others in the way you want to be treated. Love of self is instinctively ingrained into every person; we intuitively value ourselves and our goals. Christ says that love means that we not only have to respect and love ourselves, but extend that same love to others, because we must recognize that they value themselves just as much as we value ourselves. This is manifested in the obligation all people have to help the poor and vulnerable, because they lack the means to help themselves. The second part of love is love of God Himself. We say that the virtue of charity is supernatural when it is infused by the Holy Spirit, as true love of God must be. Love requires near full knowledge of a being, and with humanity's finite limitations, full knowledge of an infinite being such as God is impossible. The full Catholic understanding of love as love of one's neighbor and love of God is manifested in the act of marriage. The Church recognizes three, not two, members in each marriage: the husband, the wife, and God. Both facets of Catholic love are present in a marriage: the man loves the woman, vice versa, and they both love God. 

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03592a.htm

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