What is Love?

Today's Gospel is about love and responsibility.

Love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and with all your mind.

&

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love is the greatest commandment.

WHAT LOVE IS: GOD IS LOVE
So there you have the orientation of love: God and neighbor. Love God with your entire self and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Just as you search for the love of God and search to give yourself over completely to Him, so spend yourself also in enabling that divine orientation and fulfillment for your neighbor. That is the what of love. Love is your relationship with God, which is based on God's relationship with you. "In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10

HOW TO LOVE
Luke 6:27-38

Love Your Enemies
(Leviticus 24:17-23; Matthew 5:38-48)
27But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. 28Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you. 29And to him that striketh thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh away from thee thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. 30Give to every one that asketh thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. 31And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner.32And if you love them that love you, what thanks are to you? for sinners also love those that love them. 33And if you do good to them who do good to you, what thanks are to you? for sinners also do this. 34And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thanks are to you? for sinners also lend to sinners, for to receive as much. 35But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. 36Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Do Not Judge
(Matthew 7:1-6; Romans 14:1-12)
37Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. 38Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.

THE EFFECTS OF LOVE: TRUE HAPPINESS: TOTAL PEACE

The Beatitudes
(Psalm 1:1-6; Luke 6:20-23)

3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

6Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.

7Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.

9Blesses are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.

10Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: 12Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.

Salt and Light
(Philippians 2:12-18)

13You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men.

14You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. 16So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

THE CANTICLE OF LOVE
I Corinthinans 13
1If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; 5Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; 6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; 7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. 9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. 12We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know I part; but then I shall know even as I am known. 13And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.

N.B. The number one search question on Google is What is love?
Pope Benedict's first encyclical was Deus Caritas Est.
Sex and Salvation
The New Archbishop of Sydney on a Culture That Has Forgotten How to Love