402. Self-mastery is ordered to the gift of self.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 402

Ave Maria series

What is love?

Love is the free self-giving of the heart.  [2346]

Rose and myself 14 years ago. I have white hair now. An indication to me that things are well here, if we are at home which is most days, Rose wants us to be in our living room chairs at 2 p.m. praying the Divine Mercy chaplet with Eternal Word Television (EWTV channel 370 on DirecTV).….. 402

To have a heart full of love means to be so pleased with something that one emerges from oneself and devotes oneself to it.  A musician can devote himself to a masterpiece.  A kindergarten teacher can be there wholeheartedly for her charges. In every friendship there is love. The most beautiful form of love on earth, however, is the love between man and woman, in which two people give themselves to each other forever.  All human love is an image of divine love, in which all love is at home.  Love is the inmost being of the Triune God.  In God there is continual exchange and perpetual self-giving. Through the overflowing of divine love, we participate in the eternal love of God.  The more a person loves, the more he resembles God.  Love should influence the whole life of a person, but it is realized with particular depth and symbolism when man and woman love one another in marriage and become “one flesh”  (Genesis 2:24)  308

“All the reasons in favor of the ‘subjection’ of woman to man in marriage must be understood in the sense of a ‘mutual subjection’ of both ‘out of reverence for Christ’.”  St John Paul II (1920-2005), Apolstolic Letter: “ Mullieris Dignitatem“ (1988)

“Love is of God and he who loves is born of God and knows God.”  1 John 4:7

 “One cannot live a trial life or die a trial death.  One cannot love on a trial basis or accept a person on trial and for a limited time.”  Saint Pope John Paul II (1920-2005), November 15, 1980

[2346]

The integrality of the gift of self

2346 Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under its influence, chastity appears as a school of the gift of the person. Self-mastery is ordered to the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices it to become a witness to his neighbor of God's fidelity and loving kindness.

People  Don and Rose Bragg