Peace Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Seriously. Define it please. A few questions for the Greek readers among you. 1) From what I understand there are 3 words that are translated in the Bible as "love". When Jesus says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself" - could someone here explain to me what words for "love" are used there - and what they mean? 2) When I think of the word "love" in relation to a person - I typically define it as "Doing whatever is best for the other person." What is your own personal way of defining "love" towards other people? What is the Catholic way of defining it? I had thought that it was "Doing whatever is best for the other person" but I am not sure if that is correct. 3) The trickier question for me is - how do we define "love" in relation to God? What does it mean to love God? I don't think we can say "To love God is to do whatever is best for God". That doesn't really make sense - it is not as though our actions benefit or harm God. The best definition that I can think of when it comes to God is - "To love God is to follow His commandments." Jesus does say "If you love me follow my commandments." But I dunno. I think that we obey out of love - but obedience is something other than love. So - what does "Love God" mean to people here? Is it a mushy feeling? Is it a feeling of gratitude? Is it a strong commitment to follow Him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo in Deum Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I've always liked this one: "Love is a mutual self-giving which ends in self-recovery." --Ven. Fulton J Sheen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritasluxmea Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 All the title makes me think of is this scene. Maybe like dancing it's something you have to do to get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) As a Catholic to "Love God" to me means listening to what the Church ask of me and following Her teachings. And it's tough and in my 33 years here on Earth I've failed 99% of the time. I'm the first to admit that isn't acceptable. Going to Mass every week and on Holy Days isn't easy or all Catholics would do it. Humbling yourself to Confess the same sin over and over to a Priest isn't easy or all Catholics would do it. Being single and admitting even masturbation is a mortal sin that will send you to hell is not easy to accept. Yet in my opinion to love God is to accept the difficult teaching and try to follow them even if it seems impossible. To love God as a Catholic to me is to love everyone I encounter with the love of Christ. To help the poor and give them food and drink. Again I've failed most of the time and if you were on the outside looking in at my life played back you would conclude without question I deserve hell. Well most of you of would. It's only with God's love and grace shown to me that I even attempt to try to love Him. If God fills you in with the truth then it's impossible to love Him without denying yourself and taking up your cross. Again I'm the first to say I walk on thin ice because some days I give in before I even start and I walk without the cross. But life is empty without taking your cross up and the anxiety and 6th sense of knowing God's wrath and judgment awaits you if you give in and don't take up the Cross is enough to get me to come to my senses and attempt to walk with Him. Also always remembering that it's His love for me that saves me at the end of the day. My love is jaded and shallow and although God deserves my love if everything falls on me I don't stand a chance. My righteous acts and love are like filthy rags. But I still offer it up to Him and pray to always be with Him. And to love Him with the true meaning of the word. Edited July 21, 2015 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luigi Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Seriously. Define it please. A few questions for the Greek readers among you. 1) From what I understand there are 3 words that are translated in the Bible as "love". When Jesus says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself" - could someone here explain to me what words for "love" are used there - and what they mean? Let's see if I can remember this: eros (the root word for 'erotic') = sexual love; philos (the root of 'Philadelphia') = brotherly love; and agape (the root of apparently nothing in English) = selfless love. I doubt that "eros" is the word used in the Biblical passages. 2) When I think of the word "love" in relation to a person - I typically define it as "Doing whatever is best for the other person." What is your own personal way of defining "love" towards other people? What is the Catholic way of defining it? I had thought that it was "Doing whatever is best for the other person" but I am not sure if that is correct. Somewhere in one of Paul's letters, he defines love as you do above, but I've always heard it as "wanting" what's best for the other person. For instance, a parent can want what is best for her adult child, but the adult child still has to make her own choices and do for herself what she considers best. But I might be splitting hairs. 3) The trickier question for me is - how do we define "love" in relation to God? What does it mean to love God? I don't think we can say "To love God is to do whatever is best for God". That doesn't really make sense - it is not as though our actions benefit or harm God. The best definition that I can think of when it comes to God is - "To love God is to follow His commandments." Jesus does say "If you love me follow my commandments." But I dunno. I think that we obey out of love - but obedience is something other than love. So - what does "Love God" mean to people here? Is it a mushy feeling? Is it a feeling of gratitude? Is it a strong commitment to follow Him? Excellent question. I've wondered the same thing myself. Like you, the only definition I've been able to come up with is following God's commandments. But I've never read Aquinas - if anyone has a clear definition, it would be The Big Guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julianneoflongbeach Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 God is love and is the source of love. To love God is to acknowledge Him for exactly who He is, to seek to please Him for exactly who He is, and to attempt to never grieve Him for exactly who He is. Everyone's heart is capable of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriela Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 God is love Beat me to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopefulHeart Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Here is St. Paul's description of the attributes of love. This may be a good passage to pray with as you consider the nature of love: 4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.... (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) St. Thomas Aquinas agrees with Aristotle's statement that "to love is to wish good to someone." (http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2026.htm#article4) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicansoul Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Love demands sacrifice. Love Itself is Sacrificial. What does this mean? Well, the Church delves deep into this, but I can easily explain what Love is not. We are constantly bombarded with secular definitions of "love." But love defined outside of God is not love. We were all born with sin, born with a tendency towards sin, and we all bear the weight of our sinfulness. Accepting sinful lifestyles (or participating in sinful lifestyles) is NOT love, regardless of how loud society barks that message. If we truly love God (Who is Love Himself,) we would deny our very selves for LOVE of HIM, just as He died for love of us. Now is it easy to Love? No. There's a reason why they say "Love hurts." This is where the sacrifice comes in. If you love someone, you will want what is best for that person, you will want that person to be with God for all eternity, and you will do everything you can to lead that person towards God. This is difficult. This will hurt. This is never popular. This is also why Jesus Himself said the road to Hell is wide open like a 10 lane toll-free highway through Dallas, but the road to Heaven is narrow and filled with obstacles, and very few find it. Very few people know how to truly love...because somewhere in the midst of our lives we have forgotten to sacrifice ourselves for each other. And we cannot love without the sacrifice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Yay, Greek! I'm going to limit myself to that, because I think everyone else has great answers. When Jesus gives these two commandments, he uses agape. A really famous occurrence of changing between the different words for love comes in John 21. Jesus asks Peter "Peter do you agape me?" (for those of you who know greek, I'm obviously butchering the conjugation, meh). Peter responds "Lord you know I phileo you." This repeats 2x, then the last time Jesus asks "Peter, do you phileo me? At which point Peter "becomes grieved." Anyway, a beautiful reading made more beautiful by understanding the Greek. It's amazing in how it shows Jesus lowering himself to our level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriela Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Yay, Greek! I'm going to limit myself to that, because I think everyone else has great answers. When Jesus gives these two commandments, he uses agape. A really famous occurrence of changing between the different words for love comes in John 21. Jesus asks Peter "Peter do you agape me?" (for those of you who know greek, I'm obviously butchering the conjugation, meh). Peter responds "Lord you know I phileo you." This repeats 2x, then the last time Jesus asks "Peter, do you phileo me? At which point Peter "becomes grieved." Anyway, a beautiful reading made more beautiful by understanding the Greek. It's amazing in how it shows Jesus lowering himself to our level. Wait, so the third time, does Peter say, "Lord, you know I agape you"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) all you need is love love is all you need if I have to define,it (for me) I would say it's the feeling I get in my chest/heart when I embrace my spouse Edited July 23, 2015 by little2add Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Wait, so the third time, does Peter say, "Lord, you know I agape you"? No, still phileo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tab'le De'Bah-Rye Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) I recomend reading reading 'Deus Caritas Est' written by pope benedict XVI. It is a supprisingly simple read and easy to understand. I think the titile means 'On Christian love', it is all about what the church teaches as to what love is. Of course we all have our own interpretations and experiences as to what 'love is' but this encyclical by the pope is a great source of illumination upon the question as to 'what is christian love?' It's not a huge book either, only like 30-50 pages, very easy to read and you just type 'deus caritas est' in the search engine at vatican.va and you can read it for free. I don't know whether encyclicals are infallible documents but i think a great source from our beloved Popes to help us better understand faith, hope and love. Edited July 23, 2015 by Tab'le De'Bah-Rye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Baby don't hurt me Don't hurt me No more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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