Expert: Fr. Michael - 11/30/2009

Question
QUESTION: Fr. Michael, After reading a few of your responses to questions, and being a Roman Catholic all my life, 46 years, I only one questions, Is there Love in the traditional Catholic Church, as seen by the traditionalist, because I don't see the love of Jesus in any of your answers, just the Law. There is a great chapter in the Book of Revelations about the Church that looses its first love and I wonder do you ever foresee all the churches reuniting in the Love of Jesus, I believe Vatican 2 was a great first step, hope you join the Kingdom.

ANSWER:         The use of the noun "love" in translations is of relatively recent
usage.  In most venerable English translation of the Catholic Bible, the
Douay-Rheims (the equivalent of the King James Version for Protestants),
the word "charity" is used, as in 1 John 4:16:  "God is charity."  
Although "charity" has acquired a more restricted sense in recent
English, it directly represents the Latin "caritas," which itself
represents the Greek "agape," a reverential selfless love directed toward God.

       As defined by St. Thomas Aquinas and the Catholic theologians,
charity is a supernatural, infused virtue, by which we love God above
everything for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for God's
sake.  Thus, charity is not something that is acquired by our own acts,
but is divinely infused into the soul when one is in a state of
sanctifying grace, a state of sinless (at least not mortally so)
friendship with God.

       Notice that charity is not defined as a "feeling" toward someone,
as the word "love" in English often connotes.  Also notice that the
object of charity is not primarily any human person, but God.  Both of
these erroneous notions are rife today in the Church, which seems to put
social relationships above God.

       No, the object of charity is first of all God Himself.  It is only
when this relationship is in order that the second, charity toward
neighbor, is even possible.  To make charity toward neighbor primary and
God secondary is a perversion of the Christian religion.  For example,
in Matthew 22:37-39 Christ Himself places stress on the former.

       Unfortunately, the English noun "love" is much too broad to cover
the nuances of the Greek adequately, and its use is very deceptive, as
readers think of the modern connotations of the translated word, not of
the original.

       How does God Himself define the word?  St. John's Gospel (14:15)
quotes Christ as giving this definition:  "If you love me, keep my
commandments."  St. John later emphasizes the same interpretation when
he writes in his Second Epistle (6):  "And this is charity:  that we
walk according to His commandments."

       So, here on earth, love is obedience to God's commandments. That
understanding turns on its head a lot of the error one currently hears
about love meaning acceptance of incorrect, irrational, and immoral
beliefs.  Scripture gives quite the opposite definition!


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Father, with all due respect, you have got to be kidding. None of the ten commandments ask you to love your enemy or your neighbor, that's why they are insuffiecient to bring the kingdom of God to man, didn't work for Moses isn't going to work for you. Are trying to tell me that it is impossible for man to love unconditionally, I don't remember Jesus telling his Apostle that, don't tell that to Mother Theresa or Gandi. Sorry but I don't think Jesus or John Paul would agree with your logic, too much thinking, you can't out think God or out love him.  

Answer
To the contrary, that is exactly what the Ten Commandments are about, and even the Old Testament, as quoted by Christ, indicates that:  "Misericordiam volo, et non sacrificium."  It is interesting that the Apostle who is most known for disseminating Christ's teaching about "love" (bad translation) being obedience to His commandments (you are incorrect in attributing this reference to the Ten Commandments alone) is commonly called the Apostle of Love, St. John the Evangelist.

God's realm is not a moral free for all, much as you might want it to be.  It is a common excuse to cite "love" (never defined, of course) as approving of the most despicable moral conduct, condemned by Christ.  If you wish to be honest, and not just argumentative, Advent would be a good opportunity for you to meditate upon the Gospels with a fresh eye, free of your own personal misconceptions.  After that, you might go on to consider the interpretations of the Great Fathers, such as conveniently compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Catena Aurea.