What is Love?

In communicating our faith, many people use love as a way of describing God. So in our most recent class we explored the concept of love and how it has changed over the years. For instance, the writers of the New Testament used at least four Greek words for love.

ἀγάπη (agápe): meaning the love between God and humans, charity, or brotherly love.
ἔρως (érōs): meaning passionate love
φιλία (philia): meaning affectionate friendship
στοργή (storgē): meaning affection as the love between parents and children

By the middle ages this concept had changed once again. In this time period we get words like:

Caritas: meaning the love which people use when they put others before themselves.
Charity. Amor: meaning the love of material things such as money, power, possessions, etc.
Courtly Love: an expression of knightly worship embodied in another person.

Today, in our modern world, we use love to mean all sorts of things. Often times we describe our expression of love to make it more accurate. We say things like, “I love you like a friend” or “I love you like a sister” and so on. Perhaps our language has developed this way because love, like God, is beyond our complete understanding.

So as we continue to reflect on what love means for us, we need to consider what we mean when we describe God as love. What is this perfect source of all love that Christians feel from time to time? What happens if we don’t feel that love?

Whatever the case, it is important for all of us to remember that the love each of us shares with God will likely mature in us as we grow in our faith. There will be times when we feel close to God and times when we feel He is distant from us. In our journey there will be times when all we have is the discipline of our spiritual practice to carry us forward. It is this maturing in our faith, however, that reflects the spiritual journey we are all on. Like the Israelites, it would be easy for us to stay in Egypt where we have access to food and shelter. However, none of us can become who God is calling us to be unless we venture out into the desert. This means leaving the joy of our conversion and proceeding down the road of discernment, calling, and action where we explore new ways of knowing God and living our faith. This isn’t always an easy process, but ultimate reward is beyond all measure.