Love: what is it

 Life is the dream love is the reality Mother Teresa  Pope Benedict XVI God loves us. This is the great truth of our life; it is what makes everything else meaningful. We are not the product of blind chance or absurdity; instead our life originates as part of a loving plan of God. — Benedict XVI

 WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER 03-19-31-2022 Dear brothers and dear sisters, our lives are very often not what we imagine them to be. Especially in loving and affectionate relationships, it is difficult to move from the logic of falling in love to the logic of a mature love.  But precisely when falling in love with its expectations seems to come to an end, that is where true love begins or true love enters in there. In fact, to love is not the pretension that the other person, or life, should correspond to our imagination. Rather, it means to choose in full freedom to take responsibility for one’s life as it comes. This is why Joseph gives us an important lesson. He chooses Mary with “his eyes open”. We can say “with all the risks”. (General audience, 1 December 2021 Pope Francis

The way of love is always ‘at a loss’, because to love means to set aside egoism, self-referentiality, in order to serve others.  The way of service is the most effective antidote against the disease of seeking first place.  (Angelus, 21 October 2018) Pope Francis

 What is love?  That is an enduring question. Moreover, we hear of the need to “love” all the time—from our media, from our priests, from our Holy Father. But what is love? Our answer of what love is has deeply dire consequences. Sadly, most people who promote love promote the Satanic counterfeit of love. Love is defined by the Catechism as to “will the good of another” (n. 1766). This understanding of love is complemented by the definition of the theological virtue of love (or “charity”), “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (n. 1822). Love, as dogmatically defined by the Church, which we as Catholics are obliged to consent to as the full and true meaning and expression of love, is not understood as “affirmation” of one’s sin and sinful nature. It is not defined as the acceptance or inclusion of others.  According to infallible teaching, love is to love God and to will others to lo