What is Love?

                                                     What is Love?

True love is giving, not taking, sharing, not expecting, serving, not waiting to be served, sacrificing, not being selfish. Love is giving to the beloved, the giving of yourself, putting yourself in the gift without looking for a return, for other­wise Alove@ becomes a barter, a trade-off, Ayou give me this in exchange for that,@ a contract that can be broken if the other fails to do his part. For love is un­conditional, it=s expansive, open-ended, without limits, horizons, INFINITE. It is giving without counting the cost, forgetting yourself and immersing yourself in the love for the beloved, wanting the genuine good of the beloved regardless of the sacrifice to self. It=s the giving of one=s heart without fear of rejection for this love is the awakening of the Divine Love within our hearts and the human beloved is only the fragile, pale imperfect image of the Divine Beloved; it is the Divine Beloved who must be discoveredCin the human belovedCso that if and when the human beloved Adisappears,@ Love does not die for Love is Eternal, Love is God, Love is His Activity in us.

Never expect from the human beloved what can only be given by God. Our hearts are made for God and they will always be restless until they rest in Him. So in human loveCno matter how great and noble and trueCthere will always remain a part of one=s heart that cannot be filled, always something missing, a pocket of loneliness, an ache of dissatisfaction, an insatiable yearning for more than can ever be satiated by the human beloved, an empty space that only God can fill.. It=s foolish and unjust to expect that this emptiness be filled by the human beloved. Don’t be surprised at thisCaccept it gladly and the challenge that it brings to raise one=s heart up to the Divine Beloved, for otherwise disillusionment will be knocking on your door. There is always the moment of the idealization of the beloved in the first flush of love: it looks and Afeels@ perfect and you feel a Anew life@ in you and you try to grasp on to it, to cling to it, hoping that this feel­ing will never leave, that it can be this way Aforever,@ but you are mistaken, it cannot last, for it is only an invitation, it is only a foretaste to show you what LOVE can and should be, if you are willing to go all the way for Love, to give yourself totally, spontaneously, Afoolishly,@ without measure and without Ameasuring,@ dying to your selfishness, your self-interest, your concern about your own comfort and pleasure and security; so be foolish in your Love and have faith and trust in the Divinity of Love for what you are doing is surrendering yourself and giving yourself totally to the Divine Beloved in the disguise of the human beloved, and in His arms you shall have your eternal Joy and Happiness.

Francis Elmo