The purpose of this paper is to examine Bernard of Clairvaux views how one should love God. Bernard of Clairvaux expresses love as a four varies degrees in which the Christian must come to understand when comes to the true love of God. I will attempt to show how St. Bernard shows how one is to grow and to develop in maturing love with God.
Why and how we should Love God St. Bernard declares that “God Himself” should be the “motivation alone for our love.” (3) This type of love should not require any type of force or outside influence. Because God gave us “Himself, “while we were yet blemished and “unworthiness,” one should be “bound” to God. (4) God gave us Himself first, therefore, because of the gift that He gave, we should have an even exchange system. St. Bernard describes, that we were enemies of God and He saw pass all that and still gave Himself to us. (4) As in the book of St. John tells, us just how much God loved us. He explains that it is to this extreme: God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son.” Love in this manner could never be truly understood to mankind; however, we should have no hesitation in loving
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Bernard shares that only when one has a full understanding of God’s love will they have an obligation to love God back. (5) Those who lack this understanding of the goods of the body and the soul that God provided where considered an “infidel” (5). The” soul was considered the superior part of one’s being”. (5) The soul was also known as the chief goods and the goods were broken into three categories: excellence, intelligence, and virtue. (5) Mankind has been given this free will within him/her and has dominion over all living being which St. Bernard declares is excellence. (7) Mankind has proof of his/her excellence through intelligence, but with this him /her known that without God none of this is capable. Lastly, virtue makes mankind seek God. (7) All three of these goods share equal parting in one’s understanding of
Throughout Bernard's collection of sermons, he justifies the central concerns of the “Song of Songs” within his selected works. He develops a creed of mystical contemplation, meditation, and personal joining with God. Bernard using an allegorical approach, he wrote about the “Song of Songs” and his sermons creating the metaphor of the church, stressing the importance of love in knowing service to God. “Song of Songs” has many interpretations within the love poem, and Bernard conveys them on discussing what the “Song of Songs” is, dives into what the kisses are that indicate the progression on the soul, describes who the four kinds of spirits are, and identifies the bride and Bridegroom.
...escribes two different aspects of God’s Love. The first is that God’s love can be very commanding, resulting in a sovereign relationship between man and God. The second being that God’s love is everything, all around and forever present. There is nothing that was not made by God, and without his love nothing would continue to exist. Julian implies that it is humanity’s duty to observe these “sixteen showings” and to make it their goal to work towards that oneness with God. Once man is able to obtain this ultimate unity with God, he will be able to understand the true passion of God.
This tailored details demonstrate that the author wants to focus on “loving” imperfection as better than “loyal” “sainthood.” This repetition technique emphasizes the author’s key idea that choosing human imperfection for “love” is better sometimes than sticking “loyally” to “sainthood,” no matter what. The author shows his passionate tone and strong feelings about
is also no distinction among the status of people and all souls will be united in heaven:
Revelations of Divine Love is a 14th century masterpiece written by Julian of Norwich. This book is an account of St. Julian’s sixteen different mystical revelations in which she had encountered at a time of great suffering and illness. St. Julian focussed on the many “mysteries of Christianity.” Through her many revelations she encountered God’s vast love, the existence of evil, God’s heart for creation, the father and mother-heart of God, and the need to obey her Father in Heaven. Amongst these revelations the most powerful was the revelation of God’s love and character. Revelations of Divine Love is a wonderful source of revelation to connect a reader to the Father.
...is composed of two natures, one external, one internal, one divine the other human, one invisible and one visible. “For notwithstanding this supreme and divine state, he experienced swaddling clothes, the crèche, childhood and the powerlessness of childhood, flight and persecution” (pg 144). God experienced the lowliness of human nature. Even though Jesus experienced all these states he was truly God-man. However, the glory of the Father wasn’t established in him yet. It was deferred by the plan of God for his son. This division only existed in Jesus. It was for the sole purpose of representing and erasing the separation that occurred between God and his creatures through sin. Jesus was separated from glory due to love. So its our duty to love Jesus in his love. It was due to love he gave his divinity to humanity. The mystery is love and only can be love.
Seeing as how we are all God’s children, made in His image, it is important to understand the necessity to love and respect one another while glorifying Him in the process.
God has created man for Himself in grace and our souls yearn to return to God, to see Him face to face. Our desire for Him comes from Him; “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 While the human soul naturally desires God, theologians have faced problems in arriving at a solution of where this desire is placed in our powers. This difficulty is known as the problem of the natural desire to see God. For the past 400 years this known problem has effected the relationship between nature to grace and the doctrine of the necessity of revelation for human fulfillment in Catholic theology and European philosophy, but nevertheless we can glean its solution in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
This paper is a philosophical exploration of some aspects and implications of the "second great commandment", to "love thy neighbor as thyself", which Kierkegaard called the "royal command". This is often thought to be the heart of Christian ethics [Wattles, p.8].
The fall of mankind with Adam and Eve caused an imbalance in the relations between God and mankind. To achieve salvation, this inequity had ...
Love is arguably the most powerful emotion possessed by mankind; it is the impalpable bond that allows individuals to connect and understand one another. Pure love is directly related to divinity. Without love, happiness and prosperity become unreachable goals. An individual that possesses all the desired superficial objects in the world stands alone without the presence of love. For centuries love has been marveled by all that dare encounter it. Countless books and poems have been transcribed to explain the phenomenon of love, but love surpasses all intellectual explanations and discussions. Love is not a definition, but rather a thought, an idea. This idea, the idea of love, burns inside us all. Instinctually, every soul on Earth is
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus endorses agape, or selfless love (in contrast to eros, or possessive love), which consists of dedication to another person’s good, even at the expense of our own good and happiness. People should practice peace and nonviolence, return good for evil and love for suffering (“turn the other cheek”). This leads to a special conception of justice, called the “divine justice”, which is based on giving a person what he or she needs rather than deserves (e.g., in case of a crime, redemption rather getting even).
... loved more than loving others. Hence, we are never satisfied. The only way for a human being to be fully satisfied of love is to be loved by the absolute completeness. The whole representation of love is God and He is perfect. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, was perfect and love, which was how he died on the cross for the sins of others. The ultimate wholeness of love died for the sins of you and me. Christ did not die in order to take benefit from human beings. He is perfect in himself; he does not need mankind to fulfill his completeness. Hence, Christ died on the cross simply because he loves mankind. He loves you and me so much he gave his own life. What greater love is there than the love of Jesus Christ? As much as human beings strongly desire to be loved, why doesn’t one satisfy one’s hunger of love through the ultimate representation of love, Jesus Christ?
The apostle John declared: “God is love.” In the Koine Greek, Agape love is that not only that love is from God, but that it is of God. God Himself loves. Love is one of the moral attributes of God Agape love is self-sacrificing. The LORD Almighty loved the world so much that He sent His only son, to death; death on a cross. .
...d are examples of human nature. All humans die, but they will always live. All humans vary in shape and size. They do not share the same brain, nor the same heart. It takes many things to be a human, but modern people all share the qualities that have been presented and discussed. Admitting to one’s mistakes is crucial and earns trust throughout mankind. Dreams are never out of reach if you just keep trying. Faith comes in many forms, the strongest being religion. Many types of emotion can make the person. Love is the most strongest characteristic one can have. When one loves, he or she is loved. “Love is patient, Love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, It is not proud, It is not rude, It is not self-seeking, It is not easily angered, It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Love Never Fails.” ( Holy Bible Corinthians 13:4 - 8). As for the five senses, they are the physical characteristic of all humans. Humans are natural and pure in their own unique way.