What is Love

[james03]

(Most material derived from Canon Hesse).

What is Love?  Love is the desire of the good for another.  This is definition by final cause.  I ask you, "What is a heart?" and you reply, "It is an organ that pumps blood.".  Same type of definition.  It leaves you (and Fr. Hesse) unsatisfied.  There seems to be more.

And I don't particularly like the definition.  It works for brotherly love, and marital love, but it fails with regards to God, and in a way is materially blasphemous.  God is perfect so there is no need for me to desire the good for God.  He is The Good.

So first off I propose another Final Cause definition: "Love is the desire to be with someone.".  You can see it applies to all cases.  But is there more?

I can give a formal cause for the heart: cardiac tissue, 4 chambers, and valves.  Can we do something like that with Love?

Do we need to?  For most of the other virtues we are satisfied with a Final Cause definition.  Magnanimity is the belief in great things and the desire to do great things.  I'd point out that Faith, Hope, and Charity stand out special as these are infused at baptism.  Whole libraries have been written on Faith.  Josef Pieper in possibly his greatest work wrote On Hope.

Fr. Hesse notes a symmetry between each of the theological virtues and a Person of the Trinity.

Father, Will, Hope.
Son, Intellect, Faith.
Holy Ghost, Heart, Charity.

Heart is the faculty to love.  And we see that the Holy Ghost was identified previously by St. Augustine, long ago,  with Love:

This distinction, then, of the inseparable Trinity is not to be merely accepted in passing, but to be carefully considered; for hence it was that the Word of God was specially called also the Wisdom of God, although both Father and Holy Spirit are wisdom. If, then, any one of the three is to be specially called Love, what more fitting than that it should be the Holy Spirit?--namely, that in that simple and highest nature, substance should not be one thing and love another, but that substance itself should be love, and love itself should be substance, whether in the Father, or in the Son, or in the Holy Spirit; and yet that the Holy Spirit should be specially called Love.

We now switch gears to Fr. Hesse's teaching on the Trinity.  We know from arguments of necessity that there must be a God Who is perfectly simple and outside of time.  And we know that He is First Cause and the Creator.  However, from a temporal perspective the universe has a beginning.  And yet He is perfectly simple and outside of time.  He Is Creates.  He is Creator.  So there must be something He always creates, which we label "begets" to capture the eternity of it.  And this we call the Son.  However being eternal the Son must be God also.  And since God is perfectly simple then Father is God and Son is God.

But since we have two persons in the Trinity from proof, we have one more hole to fill.  There must be a relationship between Father and Son.  But since God is perfectly simple, then that relationship must also be God.  And we call this Holy Ghost, the relationship between Father and Son, and therefore proceeding from the Father and the Son.  And St. Augustine calls Him, the relationship amongst the Trinity, Love.

And so now I attempt to put it all together and answer "What is Love?".

Love is the relationship amongst the Holy Trinity, which relationship is a desire to be with another.  In the Holy Trinity we see perfect Love, because not only are the 3 Persons with one another, they ARE one another.  (Kind of astonishing, we see that in God is Perfect Love which should not be unexpected because God is perfect.)

And just as we have the faculties of Will and Intellect, we also have a faculty to Love.

And Fr. Hesse tells us these faculties are how we are made in the image and likeness of God.

[Elizabeth]

Listen to Fr. James Mawdsley on YT - - very easy to find on his channel.

[AlNg]

Heart is the faculty to love. 

I don't see how a biological heart would be the faculty involved in the neurochemistry of an emotion such as love.

[Aethel]

Heart is the faculty to love. 

I don't see how a biological heart would be the faculty involved in the neurochemistry of an emotion such as love.

Love = warmth = blood flows more = increase of heart usage.
Also, I find this post bizarre. I can tell you my heart definitely plays a role when I love someone deeply (perhaps it's placebo, but I seriously was of the same mindset / opinion as you until I experienced it deeply)

[andy]

This is taken from Fr. Hesse "Man In the Image of God" talk, which I consider one of his best, available here

The whole "blood pump" concept is explained and the full context of the talk is rather needed. It takes a bit to get there.

[AlNg]

I can tell you my heart definitely plays a role when I love someone deeply (perhaps it's placebo, but I seriously was of the same mindset / opinion as you until I experienced it deeply)

Some say that the hypothalamus plays a greater causal role.

[james03]

Heart is the faculty to love. 

I don't see how a biological heart would be the faculty involved in the neurochemistry of an emotion such as love.

Love qua love is not an emotion and does not involve neurochemistry.  It is not material.  Love is a virtue.  Love causes an emotional response at times.

As far as the blood pump, Andy pointed it out.  The heart has been a symbol of love for ages.  When we put a picture of The Sacred Heart or The Immaculate Heart in our home, it is not because we are impressed by their blood pumps.  If you give a box of chocolates to a girl during Valentine's day, it may be in a box shaped like a heart.

Fr. Hesse therefore uses the heart to symbolize the faculty of Love.

[AlNg]

The heart has been a symbol of love for ages.

I agree that the heart is a symbol of love. It is difficult to believe that an organ that pumps blood  is a faculty or an inherent mental power of love.

[james03]

Heart is the faculty to love. 

I don't see how a biological heart would be the faculty involved in the neurochemistry of an emotion such as love.

Love = warmth = blood flows more = increase of heart usage.
Also, I find this post bizarre. I can tell you my heart definitely plays a role when I love someone deeply (perhaps it's placebo, but I seriously was of the same mindset / opinion as you until I experienced it deeply)

There is something to this.  How do we check if an unconscious person is alive?  We check his pulse.  "The greatest love is to lay down one's life for another".  "I love you with all my heart".  Heart is synonymous with and literally life.  Your beating heart is how you know you live.

Which could take you to contemplating life and love.

[james03]

Not to be overlooked:

namely, that in that simple and highest nature, substance should not be one thing and love another, but that substance itself should be love, and love itself should be substance,

Something I'll have to contemplate.  Reading St. Augustine's work on the Trinity is now in my to-do list.

[Julio]

To love is to will the good of the other, according to St. Thomas Aquinas.

Hence, it is not a form of any emotion or sentiment. God is love and when He caused the destruction and the death of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah it did not mean He did not love them. During the time that Jesus died on the cross, that never meant that the Father and the Holy Ghost is not love, for God is love.

I think the one person of God becoming human/substance is the one being contemplated by that, James.

[AlNg]

To love is to will the good of the other,

Right. I don't see where the heart is involved in willing something, anymore than any of the other human organs would be involved in willing something such as:
The lungs. ...
The liver. ...
The bladder. ...
The kidneys. .....
The stomach. ...
The intestines.
I suppose a case can be made that any one of these organs plays some sort of a role in will or in some other human activity.

[james03]

To love is to will the good of the other, according to St. Thomas Aquinas.

So if I say, "I love God.", then I blaspheme.

Fr. Hesse was not impressed by St. Thomas's treatment of love.

[Julio]

To love is to will the good of the other, according to St. Thomas Aquinas.

So if I say, "I love God.", then I blaspheme.

Fr. Hesse was not impressed by St. Thomas's treatment of love.

Jesus said, we humans must be perfect for His Father is perfect. If I say "I love God" I am just trying to express the perfection of His will.

[Julio]

t see where the heart is involved in willing something, anymore than any of the other human organs would be involved in willing something such as:
The lungs. ...
The liver. ...
The bladder. ...
The kidneys. .....
The stomach. ...
The intestines.
I suppose a case can be made that any one of these organs plays some sort of a role in will or in some other human activity.

The soul and body are one. Hence the act of the soul cannot be attributed exclusively to the heart. Metaphorical expressions should not be taken in accordance with biological activities of humans.