Is Love at First Sight Real?
You notice a beautiful person from across the room. They glance at you and your eyes meet for a brief moment. A myriad of wonderful feelings rush through your body as momentary thoughts of your future wedding ceremony float by. IT MUST BE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!!
Not exactly.
Blissful feelings are wonderful, but love requires choice. One must choose to do what is best for the other. Unfortunately, blissful feelings can disguise themselves as love. St. John Paul II said, "Sexual values, after all, tend to impose themselves, whereas the value of the person waits to be chosen and affirmed." 1
So if you and your newly noticed lover have yet to make choices that sacrifice personal freedoms to promote each other's goodness and value, then authentic love has yet to blossom. Love is still possible. If blissful feelings don't completely extinguish your sense of value for one another, then your relationship may be kindled into a raging inferno of authentic love.
I don't mean to be a Negative Nancy squashing Hollywood dreams of love at first sight. Every relationship has the potential to reflect Christ's love for his Church, but it does require effort. Turn again to St. John Paul II's insights on love, "Love in human relationships is not something ready-made. It begins as a principle or idea which people must somehow live up to in their behavior." 2
Loving feelings arise from the body. Loving actions arise from the soul.
1 Paul, John. Love and Responsibility. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993. 136. Print.
2 Paul, John. Love and Responsibility. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993. 29. Print.
You notice a beautiful person from across the room. They glance at you and your eyes meet for a brief moment. A myriad of wonderful feelings rush through your body as momentary thoughts of your future wedding ceremony float by. IT MUST BE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!!
Not exactly.
Blissful feelings are wonderful, but love requires choice. One must choose to do what is best for the other. Unfortunately, blissful feelings can disguise themselves as love. St. John Paul II said, "Sexual values, after all, tend to impose themselves, whereas the value of the person waits to be chosen and affirmed." 1
So if you and your newly noticed lover have yet to make choices that sacrifice personal freedoms to promote each other's goodness and value, then authentic love has yet to blossom. Love is still possible. If blissful feelings don't completely extinguish your sense of value for one another, then your relationship may be kindled into a raging inferno of authentic love.
I don't mean to be a Negative Nancy squashing Hollywood dreams of love at first sight. Every relationship has the potential to reflect Christ's love for his Church, but it does require effort. Turn again to St. John Paul II's insights on love, "Love in human relationships is not something ready-made. It begins as a principle or idea which people must somehow live up to in their behavior." 2
Loving feelings arise from the body. Loving actions arise from the soul.
1 Paul, John. Love and Responsibility. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993. 136. Print.
2 Paul, John. Love and Responsibility. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993. 29. Print.