English
EspañolRegarding love, self-gift, embrace, and unity manifests themselves through virtues. They do not come from outside but from within love itself.
Text
“In a lyrical passage of Saint Paul, we see some of the features of true love: “Love is patient, love is kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:4-7).
Love is experienced and nurtured in the daily life of couples and their children. It is helpful to think more deeply about the meaning of this Pauline text and its relevance for the concrete situation of every family.” (The Joy of Love, n.90)
Commentary
In this excerpt, Pope Francis takes up St. Paul´s celebrated passage on love in this first letter to the Corinthians (13:4-7). Centuries later, St. Augustine said forcefully that “the order of love is the virtues.” Sometimes, as simple as this message is, we fail to understand it, and, as a consequence, we do not practice it within our loves. St. Paul and St. Augustine said – which Pope Francis picks up very well – that the so-called virtues are, in reality, the ways in which, in love, we give ourselves, embrace each other, and strive to unite and remain united.
In other words: when you are patient, you love; when you are impatient and irritated, then you do not love. When you are proud, conceited, arrogant, and domineering, you do not love; and when you have the realism of humility and do not pretend to be more than what you are, then you are in a position to love. When you are lazy and rather die than quickly help, you do not love; when you are solicitous and ready to lend a helping hand as needed, you love. When you are saddened or bitter because of your neighbor´s success, that envy prevents you from loving; and when you rejoice heartily for the good things, talents, or graces of the other, then you love. When you are always remarking defects, looking at the negative, never appreciating the positive in your neighbor, this pettiness prevents you from loving. And so on with all the virtues, which constitute the face of good, true, and beautiful love.
Do not deceive yourself or others. If you want to love genuinely, you will be virtuous towards your loved ones. You will like improving yourself for them. If this is not the case, then it is not love. For love, of itself, is virtuous at its core
