Dear brother Harry mundahug
Thank you most kindly my good sir! I appeciate this very much.You have provided me with an excellent post, and I more than sympathise with the points that you have raised. Allow me to offer some of my own thoughts.
I will take it in parts.
Firstly, on the concept of love.
"...The biblical image of love is not an emotion or feeling, but it is the glue and the motivator for each person to pursue a more Christ-like way of life...This bold Christian view of love demonstrates clearly that it cannot be reduced to emotion. Love looks like something. Here, St. Paul describes it with poetic detail. He tells what love is – patient, kind, enduring– as well as what it is not – jealous, pompous, inflated, rude, quick-tempered. The reading also foretells what happens when love is absent. Without it, lives and relationships are like a noisy gong. We can accumulate things, be showered with gifts, and even give things away, yet without love, all is worthless... A love that Christ demonstrates by dying for all of us is a bond of love that cannot be broken by anything – earthly, supernatural, or otherwise..."
- Father Darren M. Henson, a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City
I believe that you are talking about people who are driven solely by their emotions. A lot of Catholic teaching warns against being too emotional since as you say such a person given to extremities of love will also, by contrast, often be driven to extreme shows of anger if a negative circumstance were too arise, or if the object of their obsessive love were to spurn and reject it, which would often lead that so-called 'love' to take a jealous, wrathful turn. A good example of this is the character of Shakespeare's Othello. At the very start of the play he is over-the-top, ecstastically in love with his wife Desdemona. His love is demonstrative, powerfully affectionate and seems to consume Him. But when he suspects wrongly, fooled by his manipulative friend Iago, that Desdemona has cheated on Him with another man, he becomes vile and abusive towards her, violent and taciturn - which results in Him tragically strangling her to death at the end of the play before then committing suicide when he learns that she was innocent. Its a tragic but skilful depiction of a man overpowered and controlled by his strong emotions.
Thus we find that in the earliest Catholic/Christian document outside of the New Testament, the Didache (prononuced Day-DAR-kay), which means "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles", written between the years AD 50-60; and forming a crucial part of Catholic Sacred Unwritten Tradition as opposed to Written Scripture - we find this salient warning:
"...Two ways there are, one of spiritual life and one of spiritual death, but there is a great difference between the two ways. The way of life is indeed this: First, you will love the God who made you; secondly, "you will love your neighbor as yourself...Love those who hate you, and you will have no enemies. Yet hold yourself away from the fleshly and kosmic strong desires...You will not hate any people, but you will reprove some, and you will pray for some, and some you will love more than your life. My child, flee from every evil thing, and from everything like it. Do not become angry or prone to anger, for anger is the way to murder. Neither should you be jealous, nor one who creates strife, nor emotional. For murders are born out of all of these. My child, do not become strongly desirous...Now the way of death is this: First of all it is evil and filled with emotions..."
- Didache (AD 60-80), The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles to the Nations
So as you can see having strong emotions is something which even the earliest Christians warned against. The love which Christian's speak of, and which they say God IS, is not a human love founded on familiarity and affection. We feel that kind of love only for our closest associates, our family and the like. The love Christian's speak of is a Divine Love which in the original Greek of the New Testament is called agape - self-donating love. Its not so much an emotion as it is an state of mind and activity. Thus Saint Paul tells us in the Book of Romans, "Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 NJB)
Its about having a right attitude to life and other people, one which does not divide between good and evil; black and white; believer and non-believer but which motivates the person to be like God, to do good to everyone whether "evil" or "good" and to be willing to sacrifice ones own happiness, pleasure, comfort and even life for the sake of one's fellow human beings, no matter whether they are Mother Teresa or a drug dealer and thug. It is active and living - not a "feeling", it is a Way of Life for those who practice it.
Religion must be founded upon and built up in Love, for God is Love, and love in the Bible is never a 'feeling' but is always something which is active - hence why the word used most in the New Testament for love is "agape" or "charity" - a 'self-giving' love. The second word used for love in biblical greek is 'phileo' or brotherly love. Religion cannot be lived by oneself or for oneself. Religion connects us with the human race at large and gives us a universal vision of reality. The word religion comes from the Latin religio which means "to bind" or "to connect".
Hence why in 1890 Pope Leo XIII wrote:
“The maternal love of the Catholic Church embraces all people...It is the industrious guardian of the teachings of its Founder [Jesus] who, by His words and those of the apostles, taught men the fraternal necessity which unites the whole world. From Him we recall that everybody has sprung from the same source and is called to the same eternal happiness”
(Pope Leo XIII, CATHOLICAE ECCLESIAE;1890)
For Catholics love is not an emotion we develop, it is a Life that We Life, a life lived for the service of others and not ourselves, as the Bible tells us:
"...Live in love, as Christ loved us, and handed himself over for us...”
- Saint Paul, Ephesians (5:2, 25-32), Bible
This love, by necessity, makes us go beyond the confines of race and religion and grasp a deeper reality, the underlying unity of all human beings in their origin and destiny - in God, from whom we came and to whom we all return, as Pope Pius XII explained upon hearing that World War Two had begun in 1939:
"...What a wonderful vision, which makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend; in the unity of the means for attaining this end... This divine law of solidarity and love assures that all men are truly brothers, without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and societies. In the light of this unity of all mankind, which exists in law and in fact, individuals do not feel themselves isolated units, like grains of sand, but united by the very force of their nature and by their internal destiny, into an organic, harmonious mutual relationship which varies with the changing of times...With a heart torn by the sufferings and afflictions of so many of her sons, but with the courage and the stability that come from the promises of Our Lord, the Spouse of Christ goes to meet the gathering storms. This she knows, that the truth which she preaches, the charity which she teaches and practices, will be the indispensable counselors and aids to men of good will in the reconstruction of a new world based on justice and love, when mankind, weary from its course along the way of error, has tasted the bitter fruits of hate and violence...
Whatever We can do to hasten the day when the dove of peace may find on this earth, submerged in a deluge of discord, somewhere to alight, We shall continue to do..."
- Venerable Pope Pius XII,Summi Pontificatus (On the Unity of the Human Race) October 12, 1939
And so without exception this agape love given to us as a parting gift Christ on the night before his death on the cross, should impel us to exhibit selfless compassion and service towards all human beings irrespective of religion:
"...[Many non-Christians are] ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace; because God knows, searches and clearly understands the minds, hearts, thoughts, and nature of all...God forbid, then, that the children of the Catholic Church should even in any way be unfriendly to those who are not at all united to us by the same bonds of faith [non-Christians]. On the contrary, let them be eager always to attend to their needs with all the kind services of Christian charity, whether they are poor or sick or suffering any other kind of visitation...”
- Blessed Pope Pius IX (QUANTO CONFICIAMUR, August 10, 1863)
“…I want to accustom all the inhabitants, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and nonbelievers, to look on me as their brother, the universal brother. Already they’re calling this house “the fraternity” (khaoua in Arabic) — about which I’m delighted — and realizing that the poor have a brother here — not only the poor, though: all men…Above all, always see Jesus in every person, and consequently treat each one not only as an equal and as a brother or sister, but also with great humility, respect and selfless generosity…”
- Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858- 1916), Catholic mystic and martyr
Blessed Pope John Paul II stated in his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem that:
“Man – whether man or woman – is the only being among the creatures of the visible world that God the Creator has willed for its own sake [to know him]; that creature is thus a person. Being a person means striving towards self-realization, which can only be achieved through a sincere gift of self. The model for this interpretation of the person is God himself".
And GOD IS LOVE! :grinningkaur:
Often this love does not feel good. Often it does not even appear to be on the surface "loving". Many early Christians were orstracized by their families for Love of Christ, for adherence to their faith. It is a love that can break bonds of familiarity, for the sake of a Higher Truth and a Higher Unity embracing all humankind.
This can be seen most clearly in the life of the third century AD Saint and Catholic martyr Perpetua, a young Roman Noblewoman.
Saints Perpetua and Felicity were martyred in Carthage in about the year A.D. 203, together with three others. In the year 203, Vivia Perpetua made the decision to become a Christian, although she knew it could mean her death during Septimus' persecution. The five martyrs were catechumens when they were arrested during the persecution of Emperor Septimus Severus, but they were baptized before they were led away to prison. Vivia Perpetua (whose name means "life everlasting") was a young married woman from a noble family and with an infant son, while Felicity was a servant and eight months pregnant. Perpetua’s mother and two brothers were Christian, but her father was pagan. When she was arrested, her father tried to get her to deny that she was a Christian in order to save her from execution, but Perpetua refused to deny her Lord. Christianity was at that time an illegal religion in that part of the Roman Empire. Her father was frantic with worry and tried to talk her out of her decision. We can easily understand his concern. At 22 years old, this well-educated, high-spirited woman had every reason to want to live -- including a baby son who was still nursing. We know she was married, but since her husband is never mentioned, many historians assume she was a widow.
Perpetua wrote an account of her trials before her death, which was finished and published after her death aged only 22 by her a friend, in which she tells us in her own words:
"...While we were still with the persecutors, and my father, for the sake of his affection for me, was persisting in seeking to turn me away, and to cast me down from the faith — “Father,” said I, “do you see, let us say, this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?” And he said, “I see it to be so.” And I replied to him, “Can it be called by any other name than what it is?” And he said, “No.” “Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.” Then my father, provoked at this saying, threw himself upon me, as if he would tear my eyes out...After a few days there prevailed a report that we should be heard. And then my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying, “Have pity my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. . . . Lay aside your courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything.” These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet; and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my family would not rejoice over my passion. And I comforted him, saying, “On that scaffold whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power, but in that of God.” And he departed from me in sorrow..."
By law, a pregnant woman could not be executed, but Felicity soon gave birth in prison, and she was happy that she could suffer death for Christ with the others.
The prison was so crowded with people that the heat was suffocating. There was no light anywhere and Perpetua "had never known such darkness." The soldiers who arrested and guarded them pushed and shoved them without any concern. Perpetua had no trouble admitting she was very afraid, but in the midst of all this horror her most excruciating pain came from being separated from her baby.
The young slave, Felicity was even worse off for Felicity suffered the stifling heat, overcrowding, and rough handling while being eight months pregnant.
Two deaconswho ministered to the prisoners paid the guards so that the martyrs would be put in a better part of the prison. There her mother and brother were able to visit Perpetua and bring her baby to her. When she received permission for her baby to stay with her "my prison suddenly became a palace for me." Once more her father came to her, begging her to give in, kissing her hands, and throwing himself at her feet. She told him, "We lie not in our own power but in the power of God."
When she and the others were taken to be examined and sentenced, her father followed, pleading with her and the judge. The judge, out of pity, also tried to get Perpetua to change her mind, but when she stood fast, she was sentenced with the others to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. Her father was so furious that he refused to send her baby back to Perpetua.
The four new Christians went to the arena (the fifth, Secundulus, had died in prison) with joy and calm. Perpetua in usual high spirits met the eyes of everyone along the way. We are told she walked with "shining steps as the true wife of Christ, the darling of God."
When those at the arena tried to force Perpetua and the rest to dress in robes dedicated to their gods, Perpetua challenged her executioners. "We came to die out of our own free will so we wouldn't lose our freedom to worship our God. We gave you our lives so that we wouldn't have to worship your gods." She and the others were allowed to keep their clothes.
The men were attacked by bears, leopards, and wild boars. The women were stripped to face a rabid heifer. When the crowd, however, saw the two young women, one of whom had obviously just given birth, they were horrified and the women were removed and clothed again. Perpetua and Felicity were thrown back into the arena so roughly that they were bruised and hurt. Perpetua, though confused and distracted, still was thinking of others and went to help Felicity up. The two of them stood side by side as all four martyrs had their throats cut. Then they were tossed about by an exceptionally wild cow, gored, and thrown to the ground. Perpetua encouraged the others and astounded the crowd. Finally, they were put to the sword.
Perpetua, along with other Christians of Carthage, went bravely to her death while admonishing other Christians, "Stand firm in faith, love one another and do not be tempted to do anything wrong because of our sufferings."
However not being killed outright by the beasts, Saint Perpetua alone survived of the five victims and so a young gladiator was sent out into the Stadium to finish her off. When he saw that it was a delicate, pretty young woman that he - a hulking brute - had to kill, he wept and pleaded not to have to do so heinous a thing. Perpetua took pity on Him, and guided the sword of the frightened gladiator assigned to kill her to her own throat. The ancient account of her death says "Such a woman - one before whom the unclean spirit trembled - could not perhaps have been killed, had she herself not willed it."
Every single year Catholics honour Saint Perpetua by remembering her in every Easter Mass. She died for freedom to practice her religion. That is
LOVE. And GURU TEGH BAHADUR DIED FOR THE FREEDOM OF PEOPLE OF OTHER FAITHS TO PRACTICE THEM! THAT IS LOVE!!!!
And so Saint Paul writes:
"...What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things, we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 8:31b-35, 37-39)
This is the love that Perpetua exemplified; and you can substitute the words "Jesus Christ" above for "Love of God in Nanak", or "Love of God in Krishna" - it is a UNIVERSAL LOVE! 
