+I haven’t read your paper, however, perhaps you will find some enlightenment in the teachings of *
Jesus * recorded in the following little portion of
Sacred Scripture:
:bible1:
Matthew 12:30-31
“And thou shalt
love the
Lord thy
God with
all thy **heart
**, and with
all thy soul, and with
all thy
mind, and with all thy
strength: this is the
First Commandment. And the
Second is like, namely this, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other Commandment greater than these.”
Doctrinely, based upon the foundation of the above portion of
Sacred Scripture . . . as Catholic Christians we are taught that there are
three kinds of
love imparted to the soul of man by
God our
Gracious Heavenly Father. . .
Who is wholly holy
Love Himself and mankind was created in
His image . . . *able to love perfectly *. . . before the free will falling from grace through the deliberate transgression (sin) of Adam which cast all of mankind into disordered relationships with both
God and spouses and all his fellow men, and the harmony of man’s life in relation to love in all its aspects was tragically destroyed and perverted and cast into grave disorder and the sinful . . .
LUSTFUL SELF . . . of man became the center of mankind’s disordered distorted love relationships, rather than maintaining our
Wonderful God’s purpose and source of life and health through the true nature and harmony of real genuine holy love in all its three aspects.
One of our marvelous teachers regarding
God’s Holy :bible1: Word taught so well regarding Adam and Eve . . . regarding **Eve **who was deceived according to
Scripture . . . who
Looked,
Listened,
Lusted, and
Lost and
Led her husband into sin . . . and
Adam who was
not deceived according to
Scripture . . . rather than truly loving
God and his tragically deceived wife now dead in sin . . . who
Looked,
Listened,
Lusted, and
Lost and
Led the entire human race into sin.
:bible1:
I John 4:8
He that loveth not knoweth not
God;
for God is love.
Doctrinal Teaching on Love:
- **** Agape - God’s infinite love for mankind and man’s reciprocal love (which falls under the First Commandment as related above) and
- Philial - love of one’s fellow-man/neighbor and
- Eros - intimate love exclusively created for relationship between man and woman as spouses . . .
*(both of last fall in the category of the **Second Commandment ***as related above) . . .
The marvelous
God fearing :nun1: Benedictine nuns :nun2: in the European convent . . . through whom **He **graced my soul with a considerable portion of my education . . . have a discipline they both practiced and which was well taught called the . . .
Holy Discipline of Detachment. Essentially it is that
genuine love is a
CHOICE . . .
not just emotion . . .
which emotion can carry us away is all kinds of “not marvelous” directions if not disciplined by God’s Love with caution and reason. One is to discipline and
detach ones **heart
** and emotions from
anything . . . *people, places and/or things *. . . that might take precedence over our
heart’s first love. . . which should
always be
God and His Ways . . . and if one’s **first love **
IS God . . . *and one’s soul endeavors to stay in prayerful constant communion with **Him ***. . . then healthy
well-ordered love for one’s mate/children/fellow man/neighbor etc. . . . can . . . and will . . . flow and follow . . . *in a holy orderly fashion *. . . and as the Reverend Mother Emmanuel encouraged all her nuns:
- “Leave a little leeway for the graces.
It’s a never-ending affair trying to be good
but never forget
when God* orders,
He gives.”
. . . all for
Jesus+
. . . thank You Blessed Lord+
