Love

   I observed a label on a pet's prescription which said to "give until gone."  For some odd reason, it made my mind think of how giving most anything will lead to the original thing being "gone" at some point.  The logical fact is that, unless replenished, the stock of anything that you are giving will be depleted until ultimately all will be gone.  The more you give a friend a drink out of the water bottle, the sooner it will be empty.  Right?

   What about other kinds of "giving," besides physical/tangible things?  You can give someone your attention... but that certainly is not eternal and must be replenished with rest from the subject.  You can give an opinion...  but those are definitely finite (and with subjective value).  You can give someone a hard time...  but you have to go away and get angry again to keep that going (don't do that, by the way).  You can give your time... but we all know that one is limited (notwithstanding my theories on the ultimate and fundamental "now"- don't get me started on that!).  There are all sorts of ways you can give intangible things... and none of them are really infinite.

   With one exception.  Love.

   If I think of Love in terms of a container from which I must give, then I  quickly realize that I cannot fulfill that pet prescription's direction.  I can give and give and give... but Love is never gone.  Give more, and more is created inside me.  Give Love and it comes back to me-- often in ways I could never have predicted.

   ~~  “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, 

only more love.”  --Mother Teresa  ~~

    So very much has been said and written on Love- for as long as mankind could communicate.  As well it should have been- since Love is the chief virtue and the most powerful force in creation.  I cannot add much to the endless volumes on Love... but I can add a bit, and so this essay will be short, but most sincere.  As is my habit, I start with God's Word and with those who help us understand His Word.  Divine Love and human Love are main topics in the bible, as well as in the writings of countless religious scholars and artists.

   1st Corinthians, Chapter 13 says that Love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  The chapter ends with "Faith, Hope, Love remain... and the greatest of these is Love."  (Read the whole chapter- it is pure magic!)  The gist is that Love is eternal and infinite and will always be there.

  Charity is, of course, a specific type, or action, of Love.  The two terms are somewhat interchangeable in various areas of the bible, depending upon translations.  In my view, Love stands as the keeper and motivator of Charity.  Saint Thomas Aquinas said that "To Love is to will the good of another."  

   Love surpasses and transcends so many things.  We can know some things, but we can love all things.  Our reason will take us to a place, but it is Love that will make that place worth being at.  Paschal said that reason's last step is in realizing that there are an infinite number of things that surpass it.  I believe that Love is foremost among those things.

~~  "Love takes up where knowledge leaves off." -- Saint Thomas Aquinas  ~~

   ~~  "Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît pas."  (The heart has its reasons which reason knows not.)  --Blaise Paschal~~

   Love heals and strengthens and enhances-- both oneself and the one loved.  Hence the inability to "give until gone."  Love brings a power above all powers to the least powerful among us.  In so doing, it makes itself even stronger- just as Mother Teresa said.
   
   To love as Christ loved-- even to love as someone like Mother Teresa loved-- is hard.  That is, it's hard until you do it... and then it's hard to not do it.  All it takes is practice and devotion and a clear heart.  

   Love is truly the only infinitely self-renewing source of energy and power.  That makes it the only thing that matters in terms of our eternal souls.  

   Given those stakes, we had better study some more on it... wouldn't you say?


   -kmg