Maybe it is in view of this worldwide commercialization of love that Pope Benedict XVI has come out with his first Encyclical aptly entitled "God is Love". Most striking in the Encyclical is the good Pope’s observation that amid the "multiplicity of meanings" of the word "love", it is the "love between man and woman" that "stands out". This kind of love simply sticks out because it is "where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness". So it "would seem to be the very epitome of love", the Pope said. According to Pope Benedict XVI, it is "neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is the man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul who loves". When that love between man and woman merely arises out of instinct and is neither planned nor willed but imposes itself upon human beings, it is principally a kind of undisciplined intoxication called "eros" by the ancient Greeks. The Holy Father said that this "intoxicated and undisciplined "eros" provides just a "fleeting pleasure" and is not an "ascent in ecstasy towards the Divine, but a fall, a degradation of man". It denies the spirit and considers the body as the only reality. So "eros" must be purified and disciplined by not simply submitting to instinct but by passing through "the path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing" This path according to the Pope involves "a real discovery of the other, moving beyond the selfish character that prevailed earlier. Love now becomes concern and care for the other. No longer is it self seeking, a sinking in the intoxication of happiness; instead it seeks the good of the beloved: it becomes renunciation and it is ready, and even willing, for sacrifice". This essence of love is known in the Old Testament as "agape" that is the first manifestation and exaltation of conjugal love. Explaining further this "path of ascent and renunciation" the Pope said: "Love is indeed "ecstasy" not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self towards its liberation through self giving, and thus towards authentic self discovery and indeed the discovery of God". These two dimensions of love cannot be completely cut off from each other said the Pope. In other words, the element of "agape must enter into "eros" so that in drawing near to the other, "eros" that is at first "mainly covetous becomes less and less concerned with itself, increasingly seeks the happiness of the other, is concerned more and more with the beloved, bestows itself and wants to be there for the other".
The Pope thus affirms the truth that real love is not merely an emotion, or affection but an act of the will, a decision. It transcends the physical, self seeking feeling that comes and goes, begins and ends, within each person. Real lovers never say that "love is gone". Advocates of divorce who justify the breaking up of the conjugal bond because "love has gone" look at love as a mere feeling, not a decision. Sweethearts must therefore not only obey their hearts but use their head before getting married. Married couples on the other hand must realize that when they tied the knot, there is no getting out. This is the true nature of love that may be called eros but is totally agape; a love that offers eternal happiness.
Apparently the love being promoted and celebrated by "lovapalooza" is nothing but the undisciplined "eros". Sealing your love for your partner with a spontaneous kiss is not wrong; but a public display of affection purposely done just to establish a world record definitely debases and degrades the real essence of love. Fortunately, there is another kind of lovapalooza being propagated in UP Parish by Fr. JBoy Gonzales S.J. Yesterday, Fr. JBoy celebrated mass to commemorate Valentine’s Day in advance where he talked about the Pope’s Encyclical on love and then asked all couples present after communion to express their love for one another by answering two questions: "Bakit Mahal Kita?" And "Ano ang gusto mong gawin ko para sa iyo?" The answers to the questions were then sealed with a ten second kiss and the final blessings. I hope this kind of lovapalooza will spread as a form of celebrating the love month of February.