How much anguish and despair do you hear from the other: “I don’t love you anymore” or “Love is a feeling.”
Our feelings can change from one moment to the next. For example I can be very happy, but suddenly, I receive bad news, it makes me sad. My feelings are fragile and can change from one moment to the other.
Love is more than a feeling. Love is an act. An attitude in favor of the other. In 1 Corinthians 13:5 it says. “Love does not look for its own interests.” Love who does not look at itself, but to the other. Love is an action, a movement towards the other.
Love is an attitude that someone goes in the direction of the other, without expecting anything and without demanding (as is the love of God for us. It is unconditional.) Love is an actitude that should be renewed every day and every moment.
So if someone does not love me today, If he/she is not disposed to love me today, h/she can love me tomorrow. In the same way, I you don’t love someone, today, you can love tomorrow. If you don’t love the poor, the homeless, we can begin to love them.
Fathers that do not love their children can begin to love them. If you have to not love someone, you can return to love when you decide to do it. Love does not exist in a response from another as it never depends on the other, only on whomever is disposed to love.
Feelings can change like the wind, but, “love never fails!” (1 Corinthians 3:8)
Padre Alir Sanagiotto, SCJ
Translated from Spanish