For a short
period, I worked in a youth group home. I worked with youths considered at-risk
and the youths that required a halfway-home between juvie and family living. At
one point, I met a young girl…very wise for her age of 13. Well, most of them
were much wiser than what people gave them credit for…but I digress. She had a
crush on a boy and the girls were nudging her to make the move, but she knew he
wasn’t her soul mate. Instead, she made a card – with the other girls help –
that read, “I’m falling in-like with you.”
I believe many
people abuse the word “love.” Love is referenced to a strong emotional
attraction. Is it really possible to LOVE more than one person or do we only
have one soul mate that defines love and we are unaware of its true meaning
until we find that soul mate?
At the same time,
in the Catholic doctrine of virtues, one of the three theological virtues
includes charity…it is also one of the greatest virtues. As we dig deeper, it
discusses a love of God and the love of our neighbor. We can further discuss
the main characteristics of charity (love). (1) The charity of God is poured forth
in our hearts. (2) It is in the human will to love. Love can be intensely
emotional, but it still exists in in the rational will. Rational will being a conscious
choice of means to a specific end. (3) The specific act to honor God is to grant
benevolence and friendship unto others. (4) We have the motive as the Divine
goodness or amiability taken absolutely and as made known to us by faith. This
act is altruistic and performed as a good in itself. (5) The range being
between God and man…following the supernatural love.
Love.
Perhaps, we don’t
abuse the word “love,” but simplify it to its emotional intrinsic value.
Perhaps we need to look deeper within our individual faiths to find its selfless
value. The decisions we make are self-sacrificing in the name of our individual
higher power. We put out good karma for the good of human nature. We help
support others in their endeavors for the good of human kind. Perhaps it isn’t
until we recognize what altruistic love is when we can truly love another
person.
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