Dear People Whom God Loves,
To begin with, it will be helpful to look at words for “love” in different languages:
In Greek, the word agape means giving love. The word eros means desiring love.
In Latin, the word caritas means giving love. The word amor means desiring love.
In English, the problem is that we use the word love for either giving love or desiring love. That can make our use of the word love confusing.
So when we say in English the word love, we may not be clear about what we are saying or understanding.
When we say in Latin Deus caritas est, we are saying that God is giving love. That may be what we understand when we say God is Love. We likely, then, would be saying that God is giving love but not desiring love.
Before going further, it is good to remember that when we use words or other symbols to refer to God, while that tells us something about God, it is also true that God is not like what we mean by our words or symbols. Also, God is infinitely more than what our words or symbols say. This reminds us not to identify God with what our words or symbols say; but at the same time, they are telling us something about God.
Another thing to understand is that giving love and desiring love are not two separate loves, but two energies within one love. One energy may be more dominate than the other in our loving. Also, one energy may be almost or completely lacking in our love. Full love is both energies. When our love is filled with both energies, they are not in competition with each other. When the two energies are integrated, our human love is full. The Love that is God is not the same as full human love, but full human love does, limitedly, point to what God is.
When giving love is not integrated with desiring love, our love will be cool and distant. When desiring love is not integrated with giving love, our love will be using and exploiting.
The word in English that, in my opinion, comes close to saying what this integrated love is like is the word compassion.
There is an ancient hymn with the title, “Ubi Caritas Et Amor Ibi Deus Est.” In English, this is translated as “Where there is love, there is God.” That hymn in Latin expresses full love. The English translation does not do it as well.
The title of that hymn is not a quote from scripture, but it reflects the “love sayings” about God in scripture.
The Love that is God is giving and desiring. It is not cool and distant. It does not use or exploit. It is full goodness beyond our imagination. We cannot make our God too big. Our tendency is to make our God too small.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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