Love Blog Series # 6.2.2: Does God need my love?

Have you ever asked this question?
Why did God "commanded" us to love Him?

Does God need my love?

I mean, He, our God, King of kings, Lord of lords, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, Creator of heaven and earth, commands us to love Him above everything and with everything that we got...

Our minds, our hearts, our bodies, our souls, our strength... He wants us to love Him. Why? What for?

He is the epitome, source and the very meaning of Love. He is Complete. He will not be sad like us when we are not love. He can erase the very existence of His creations if decides to. He will not feel incomplete even if we don't love Him. He is everything.

So why did He commands us to love Him in the first place?

Here is the reason: The command is for us, not for Him.

You don't get it? The reason He gave you that commandment is for our own good. It is not for Him, it is for us. He didn't create that 1st greatest commandment for us to love Him so that He will be loved and feel being loved just like us. He is the very source and epitome of Love and He is Love Himself thus He doesn't need to be loved just to be loved. The 1st greatest commandment (which encompasses the 1st three commandments God gave to Moses) is meant and created for us.

I can give you three (3) reasons why this greatest commandment is good for us.

1. We are wired, hard-programmed, and created to love... and in this commandment, Him. We search for love in all places. Why do we search it? Because love brings us joy. All of us has also this common reason of loving someone, it is because we are loved. And because we felt love we have joy. Man has the capacity to love because he felt loved first. The problem comes when we ourselves confuse the Giver of Love to something else and then we focus on that something else, we love this "something else" because we thought they give love to us... which brings me to the 2nd reason...

2. God does not and will not leave you... Period. Everything else will leave you, may it be your girlfriend, boyfriend, parents, loved-one, dog, cat, computer game, PC, cellphone, friends, work, academics, grades, bar, beer, money, and even that sexy woman over there... They will leave you. These "something else" will not be there for you always. In truth, The phrase "I'll always be here for you" will not be true always because I, too, also can leave you. So, If you love these things above everything else and give to them all you got... There is 100% even 200% guarantee, no-questions-asked, and pretty sure of it that they will leave you.

Isn't that truth destructive? Devastating? To love "something else" and to give this "something else" everything that you have only to find out that this "something else" will leave you alone... having an unrequited love? Only to find out that this "something else" does not and will not love you until eternity and will just again... leave you alone?

That's why God wants you to love Him... with everything that you have... To focus on Him alone. Yes, you can love your family, friends, work, boyfriend, girlfriend, pets... but they are only second to God. You give everything to God. Because He will never, ever, leave you. Believe me. Your love for Him is secured. Your everything is secured. And you will have fullness of joy until eternity because He is Eternity... He is Infinity. Your world will not crumble because He will always be there for you. Come to think of it, if You love Him, He will be your everything. Now, the reason why He will not leave you brings me to my last reason...

3. God loved, loves and will always love us... In the first place, we will never exist or even cease to exist if He doesn't love us. Because we are formed because of His love. Even everything else exists because of His love. That's why we are wired to love, because He loves. He is love. And in Him we are complete. We attain fullness of joy. That's why our everything is secured in Him because He is Everything.

And because He has loved us first, our response is to love Him back. It is now not a command but an act. A response to what is truly given to us. Because He wants you to be more like Him... Because He created you in His image and likeness... And Because Jesus is also the Father and the Father is also Jesus... and Jesus loves the Father... then we are to do the same... for this response of love to the Father is for us... He gave this so that you can have fullness of joy in His Love.

PS1. Watch out for the next topic in the series: Loving You

PS2. Watch out for our next topic series after this: Being Complete

Love Blog Series # 6.2.1: What's Love Got to Do with This?

"Hayyyyy... Love..."
But before we get mushy in this article... let's discuss the definition of love.
What is love anyway?

In the world today, there are many, many, many definitions pertaining to love. Most of them equate love as an intense surge of feelings or emotions. And many people would also say that it is irrational, does not have any reason, and simply a magical thing that people feel.

It may sometimes be connoted to love of country, romantic love, friendship, sexual love, love for thing, and even love for God. And many will say that these vast definitions of love are very unique to each other and are very different from each other. Many would say that these different kinds of love have different intensity of feelings also.

All in all, these boils down to one thing: Love is a feeling.

Pope Benedict, through his encyclical letter entitled: "Deus Caritas Est", wishes to address this very definition of love. Is it really a feeling, much like the Greek word, eros? Is love or true essence of it be ideal and almost impossible to grasp due to the many definitions and intensities to it? Is romantic love very different from the religious love or love for God? Can we be able to do the commandments?

What is really the definition of love?

To have a basic knowledge of it, we will have to use the sentence many of us will say in many different languages to express our love to the other:

"I love you"

Using basic English, this simple sentence represent two parts: A subject and a predicate.
The subject here is the word "I". The predicate here is the phrase "love you" which can be subdivided into two objects: A verb and a direct object. The direct object here is "you" and the verb word is "love".

By the very definition of verb as an action word, the word "love" can be connoted as an action.
We cannot express love if is not an action. And by the very definition of it... Love is an action, the doer of the action is "I" and the receiver of the action is "you".

By receiving the action means receiving the action word "love". And love cannot be received if it is not been given to the receiver.

So what is this love that is to be given? By the meaning of the title of the letter "Deus Caritas Est", it means: God is love. We are to give God as an action to the receiver. But how do we do that?

Looking at the first chapter of Genesis, we can see that we ourselves are made from the image and likeness of God. Thus, in action, we only not give our God... we ought to give ourselves.

Thus, the very essence of the true meaning of love. It is an act of self-giving... of self-sacrificing. This is agape used in the New Testament. Then, what are feelings then?

Feelings, the intense emotions that well up inside us, is a byproduct of that love. That is the pursuit defined by eros, supreme infinite happiness often equated to romantic love. Rather than a warped and destructive form of eros that is intoxicated and seeks to reach "divine happiness" for the purpose of feeling the pleasure of being "divine", true eros becomes pure and true when in pursuit of this kind of happiness we ought to give ourselves. Eros and Agape, although different, becomes one in the whole definition of love.

Love becomes one essence but in different manifestations. It is whole. It cannot be gauge into different intensities. It's either you give it whole, or you give an imperfect one. We cannot separate it into different things for if we separate it, we only get an impoverished form of it. And a "half-baked love" is not love at all.

People need love... We need to be loved... and the only thing that quenches that thirst is only through true and perfect love.

Thus, true and perfect love, again, is an action... an act... to give oneself to another... to sacrifice for one neighbor... to serve, give time and effort generously... and its byproduct will always be joy, peace, and love. The feelings that we get when we give generously.

For the more we give and share this love, the more we receive true and perfect love given and acted upon us by our generous God, who gave His Son Jesus, who died for us... just to ultimately define what true love is.



PS. Sorry for the late post, I have to read just part one of the Encyclical letter of the Pope just make this post more understandable and have more "meat" so to speak.

PS2. Watch out for the next topic in the series: Does God need my love?

PS3. Watch out for our next topic series after this: Being Complete

Timeless Specials #1: High School Reflections

(Note: Timeless Specials are special blog entries aside from the series for the moment... It may or may not be connected to the series being discussed about at the moment... The use and anything about Timeless Specials will be posted after the "Two Simple Instructions" subseries special of the Love Blog Series)

After almost 4 years, we met again.
I met with one of my high school friends after 4 years of not seeing each other.
It was really a "semi-unplanned" moment.

Just a little background, I was just attending a seminar about How to be Truly Rich by Bo Sanchez when I thought of arranging a meeting with that friend of mine. The reason I arranged a meeting with her (Oooopss... Yep, she's a girl...) was because I promised her that before her birthday, we'll have a "chit-chat" as a gift. But because of schedules, we postponed it, then postponed it again... then another... until we had a chance (and time) to meet up. So we met at National Bookstore at Katipunan, QC and ate at Red Ribbon.

It was unplanned actually. The whole plan was to meet her but the thing is, I don't know what to talk about. All I was thinking then was to convince her and have a small team to start a reunion plan for our batch this coming "5-year reunion" next year and then that's it. On the other side, she was thinking of convincing me to come and watch the Pisay (Short for Philippine Science... Yep...) Movie entry at Cinemalaya at CCP.

Anyhow, so we ate and had our little talk and went off to CCP. But before that we need to get tickets at TicketNet. Thus, we took a ride at LRT2 to Gateway, Cubao and looked for tickets.

At this point, we had our adventure. We had so much fun talking starting from Red Ribbon to Gateway that we didn't realized that at some points we were actually a little bit lost. But what surprised me the most is how we reacted when we got to the TicketNet booth and said that all tickets were sold out for that day's show.

We traveled from Katipunan to here and was lost a little bit and all we got was a dead end... We couldn't get tickets for the show that we should be watching right that moment.
But we laughed... Not a sarcastic laugh but a heartily and joyful laugh. We laughed and was also astounded as how the movie got so much publicity that on the first day of showing, all tickets were sold.

We don't have plan B that time. But we had an instant plan B and headed for Starbucks (this was the first time I entered the cafe of Starbucks and the 3rd time I bought their product...)... And for at most I think 1 or 2 hours we stayed there talking and sharing our lives.

From simple things like "how are you" to things like "love life" to things like "how's our common 'bestfriend'" to her dad, to my work, to coffee, to cake, to her lifestyle, to my lifestyle, to our past high school memories, to God...

And we didn't stopped there, we circled around the mall and stayed there for another hour or so at the National Bookstore and talked again... and again... and again...

And we again left and went to the Food Area of Gateway and bought and shared NYFD (french fries brand) and talked again... and again... and again...

And it hit us... We are now here... sitting and eating and talking. We realized that much of what we have learned and shared while we were together was because of the years and experiences we had in our high school days. Those were the days that the topic for the day will always be "love life" and "drama mode". Those were the days that we thought of love as a feeling. Those were the days that we live our lives in a competitive world. Those were the days that a "tampuhan" is a big issue then. And now we are here, talking about our reflections and realizations about our silly mistakes and lessons as if we were still together.

It's like we are "growing together alone". Together in a sense that still now we move as one... going forward... but because of certain things like distance... we move "alone".

Meeting with my friend that day was like having a big reunion. A reunion of dreams, hopes, aspirations, realizations, reflections... And I treasure these moments... Unplanned moments...

I had a great time. And I'm writing this down... well, my plan is to share it to you what happened that time. But now, the unplanned thing is... I'm writing this down so that you may realize this very thing.

Treasure every good moment. Some of your moments may be bad but it's ok. They will work out into a good thing after.
Treasure every person you meet. I'm glad I had a great "date" with my friend.
I do hope there will come a time that you will meet (or date) with one of your close friends before and will have yourself a reunion of thoughts... a rekindling of your passion before... a pursuit of your dreams... It maybe today... tomorrow who knows... :D

Anyhow, for 6 hours... we just talked about a part of 4 years. I think we still may need to do some catching-up. :D

(Again... Back to our next topic in our subseries: What's Love Got to Do with This?)
(Watch out for our next set of topics: Being Complete)

Love Blog Series #6.1: Two Simple Instructions (Subseries special #1)

Did you ever tried NOT to follow the instructions in your test papers?
Deliberately or accidentally?
I did many times and all I got is a zero if not a minus five in my exam or quiz.
Just because I did not follow simple instructions in my test papers.

My topic for this entry is about two simple instructions. Just two.
And yet these two are the most disobeyed instructions since ancient times.
Do you know what are these two?

1. Love God
2. Love others

Simple isn't it? And most of the time, for at least 2000 years... and even before Christ was born, these two instructions were the most disobeyed, often taken-for-granted, and misinterpreted instructions in the world.

I have a hunch that most, if not all, of the unnecessary problems and worries today and even before are due to lack of love. It is due to not following these two simple instructions.

Crime, murder, war, failing the math exam, heartbreaks, divorce, occultism, ouija, rape, population booming, economical crisis, corruption, sin, adultery, bitterness, horror, accidents, blame...

The Greek word used for sin in the New Testament books is called "hamartia" which means "to miss a mark". Thus, by missing the mark or not hitting or obeying these 2 simple instructions actually makes you sin. And sin causes all kinds of unnecessary and useless problems and worries to man.

The whole point now is how do we avoid "missing the mark"? How do we do these instructions? Ultimately, how do we love?

To answer these clearly, We will have to know the problems why we can't easily follow these 2 instructions. There are three reasons why we fail to follow these instructions...
1. We do not know
2. We do not internalize
3. We do not do it

1st, we do not know what love is and why do we need to love. The problem with us today is that we ourselves twisted the very meaning and form of love and corrupted it just to fit into our own selfish needs. Knowing what true love is and the real reasons why we need to love God and others will help us have concrete reasons for us to love them. I believe that in loving you need to know why you love (see Love Blog Series #3: True Love has One Reason Alone). We will discuss it later in our next set of topics what love is and why we need to love.

2nd, it is not enough to know it by mind. We need to know it by heart. Everyday we must internalize and condition ourselves to do the 2 greatest commandments. Again, a full discussion for this part will be done later.

and lastly, after knowing love and conditioning yourself to love, the last important thing is to actually do it. Every preparation will be in vain if not done in action. So here, some of the answers in how to love will be given here.

This topic will be subdivided into parts to answer how can we love God and love others more effectively and then actually "avoid missing the mark". So watch out for our next issues :D

(Next topic in our subseries: What's Love Got to Do with This?)
(Watch out for our next set of topics: Being Complete)

Love Blog Series #5: Extension to the Theory of Equivalent Exchange

Remember this theory?

The theory states that "for the exchange to take place, the two key players of the relationship must be somehow complete first before they give it to each other. As for this, they will take what the other has given and the cycle goes on. Because of their completeness, and their readiness, the give-and-take cycle becomes a natural process, like breathing and eating."

(for more explanation, see Love Blog Series #1: The Theory of Equivalent Exchange)

There's an extension to it, which will encompass all other relationships as well.

You may think that when a person gives his whole self to his partner, the partner is fulfilled and is complete from that love being given by her partner. Now I will disagree with that.

Because people are imperfect. We can't give perfect love... remember my last paragraph? That you can't give without being complete... and by being complete you must ask from God to give you first His complete and perfect love so that you can share it to others especially to your partner...

The receiver of love is not really receiving a perfect love from her partner if the love given does not come from God and the giver is not really giving himself and his love completely if the giver doesn't have the love from God.

Thus, the reality of this theory is that the reason behind the completeness of a person inside the cycle of love is not because of the love being completely given to us by the giver but because of the love being given by our Lord.

The cycle really becomes a natural process when we share and give that whole love from our Lord.

Our fulfillment of our needs is really not because of the person who give us love, but because the Lord fulfilled us first our needs (that is why we should be complete first before having a relationship... at this point, we will discuss it in our next topic: Being complete).

And in loving relationship, the Lord uses our partners as His instruments to show His perfect love for us again, and again, and again.

Making us complete again, and again , and again...

And having that kind of reality, we don't need to look after ourselves. Thus, we have more time to look after our partners needs... Because we ourselves are instruments of God to show His love for our partners.

Although this reality looks like that we fulfill them, it is really the Lord using us to love them completely. Isn't that amazing?

To conclude this topic, if you really love... or if I rephrase it: If you really want to love the person you are loving right now (may it be your parent, child, boyfriend, girlfriend, special some-one, spouse, friend) don't just give your imperfect love...

Ask for God to give you first His perfect love to you so that you could share and give His perfect love to others... remember this equation:

Perfect love tenfold = imperfect love from you + perfect love given to you from God

Don't worry about the cycle... you don't need the cycle for the fulfillment of your needs from your partner. Why? Because your needs are met by God's love! (I said it before and I'll say it again... you being complete will not come from your partner... period) The cycle will come and be a natural process after.

God's love is ought to be shared :D It makes His love increase tenfold :D

(Watch out for our next topic in our series: Two Simple Instructions)