Expert: Griff Ruby - 12/12/2006

Question
Hi. I've been asking about what Jesus meant by Love.  There's love of God, love your enemy, love yourself.  Are all these the same?  What did Jesus mean?  How can you love God, if you can never truly know God?  Loving yourself is also a hard concept. Can you help?  

Answer
True love in this Biblical sense is about wanting what is truly best, from a moral perspective.  For example, true love for one's children is not about wanting them to have whatever they want, to have fun, and to be happy, but rather about wanting them to grow up to be good and generous and industrious souls who will contribute to society instead of merely drain from it.
So it is with true love of an enemy.  You don't resign to an enemy's hatred of you, but rather desire that the enemy becomes a better person who perhaps in the end therefore won't even be an enemy.
Love of self is the same thing.  It means taking care for the condition of our soul.  We should want what is best for ourselves in terms of what we know to be right.  True love of self (in the Godly sense) would be that we desire to overcome those bad habits we have, overcome that temper we have, or learn to do our share (and then some) and really pull our own weight.  It is a false "love of self" that says "I want what I want, and everyone else should give it to me!"
So, what about love of God?  Since God is already at His best, loving God is not about wanting God to "do better" (whatever that could possibly mean), but rather about liking and appreciating all that God truly stands for, about wanting His purposes to be fulfilled in this world and our lives and the lives of all whom we come in contact with.  We love God by submitting to Him and thereby "extending" His will into our lives, making ourselves as it were a part of His Mystical Body the Church.  It also includes an adoration of God, sort of like being in love.  One wants to be able to gaze into the face of their beloved, and one should most of all wish to gaze into the face of God as a Being of perfect beauty.
Hope this helps, God bless!