CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY: QUESTIONS ASKED

Love is harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us,
but it is the only answer. Dorothy Day

One Commandment to love God and one another . . . by the act of God loving me there seems to be change in my life, by the change in my life I am obligated to “love” others making a difference in the world. And yet even though loving God seems to be easy - as I consider it a natural response of the creature to its Creator, the love for other human beings is not so easy, rather it seems to be based upon conditions and to last only a moment. “Love” is a central theme in Christianity and through this study I want to examine what it means for a Christian to “love” in practical and daily terms. Every young and new generation looks for answers to questions of life including faith and in Christian faith, the concept and meaning of “love.” Once we decide what it means to “love,” our idea is not strong enough to make it through the troubles of daily lives, partially because we are so focused on ourselves and our thoughts; we cannot accept the differences between others.[1] So is it possible to purely and genuinely be in “love” not only romantically, but also and with emphasis – be in “love” with our neighbor?
In Screwtape Letters, the character of the Demon – the Screwtape, argues that such love, which requires my good to be other’s good is a mere impossibility.[2] He explains this by saying that all creatures by their nature compete with one another, thus this idea of love is rather contradicting. It just can’t happen.[3] It seems that this could fit our picture of American lives today, as we tend to choose comfort and victory over sharing and giving.
On the other hand, we have a person who lived their whole life in sacrificial love for others. The woman had no true enemies, I think, as one who has enemies refuses to help them when the time of need comes and knowing this woman’s heart shows that she would help anyone. This woman is Mother Teresa, who was known as a “living saint,” who thinks that this command of God is quite possible, because due to His nature He cannot command something impossible.[4] She further says that love can be genuine when above all things it is a love for our neighbor, our family and those near to us, so from this the love can spread to whomever may need it.[5] Furthermore, she also thinks that love must be sacrificial and event hurt us, when we truly love our brothers and sisters.
Saint Augustine thought that we have a tendency to love ourselves and other things which bring us happiness; therefore we each must find our main object of love, that will be sufficient for us and our loving of others. That object, in his opinion is God.[6] C.S. Lewis takes this idea of being in Communion with God and states that the next step to fulfilling this Commandment of loving God is the need to love one’s neighbor as he is the “holiest object presented” to our senses.[7]
In the community of the Old Testament the word “love” was defined in practical terms, as “the love among people.”[8] What does it mean to love in the terms of the New Testament? What is love in daily living? Where do we find it? How do we share it? What did Jesus mean by love? These are only some of the questions that will help us find the light at the end of this journey. If love is a sacrifice, how do I make that sacrifice in my life, in practical ways by obeying God and worshiping only him, as that love for the other can so easily become a worship of that other?
Old sayings tell us that ‘love is blind,’ but could it possibly be something rather more visionary and purpose giving than a loss of good sense and direction? While the generations seek their answers to life’s questions, the answers are always changing as it is not only the definition that gives meaning, but people - those culturally different and believers of various traditions. Therefore looking at the original and intended meaning of first words for “love” will be a necessary step in getting closer to understanding the “love” of which Jesus spoke and lived and the “love” which our culture today reflects. And at the end, can we passionately talk about “love”, even if loving means to sacrifice of our own will and pleasures for the will and pleasures of the other?
Let us begin the journey.

Copyright © 2007 by Dorota Krzyzaniak
All rights reserved
[1] Wesley Carr, Tested by the Cross (Great Britain: Fount Paperbacks, 1992), 36.
[2] C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, with Screwtape Proposes a Toast (New York: Macmillan Paperbacks CO., Inc., 1975), 81.
[3] C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape, 85, 87.
[4] Mother Teresa, No Greater Love, ed. Becky Benenate and Joseph Durepos (New York: Barnes and Nobel, 1997), 22.
[5] Mother Teresa, 27.
[6] Daniel H. Williams, The Good Life, Augustine Says we Must Love the Very Best the Most, Christianity Today Magazine, 07 September 2007, 54.
[7] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1980), 46.
[8] Leon Morris, Testament of Love, A Study of Love in the Bible (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 37.