What Love Really Means

• Posted by Evert Chris Dimalanta February 4, 2014 - Filed in Personal - ##love #February #valentine'sday  - 1,090 views

  

  I am not an expert on relationships. I do not claim to be. And I will never be.  But since it is February, the love month, let me talk about love - the all-time favorite topic of everyone.

  We all have our own definition of love. Throughout our lives, we felt love at different phases, different modes, and different levels.  But what is the true meaning of love?

  Of all the acceptable definitions of love, the one in the Bible is my favorite choice of all.

  

  To quote 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

  ^“ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, 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.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

  Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”

   

  

  A lot of people would say that the heart has reasons that reasons cannot understand. That it should always be mind over heart. But surprisingly, no less than the Supreme Court of the Philippines made several pronouncements upholding the sacredness of love and its effects. Let me share them with you.

   

  In Periquet vs. NLRC 186 SCRA 724, the Court held:
  
  "It is said that a woman has the privilege of changing her mind but it is usually allowed only in the affairs of the heart where the rules are permissibly inconsistent."

  
  "If the two eventually fell in love, despite the disparity in their ages and academic levels, this only lends substance to the truism that the heart has reasons of its own which reason does not know." - Chua-Qua vs Clave 189 SCRA 117

  
  "Statistics never lie, but lovers often do, quipped a sage. This sad truth has unsettled many a love transformed into matrimony. Any sort of deception between spouses, no matter the gravity, is always disquieting." - Antonio v. Reyes, G.R. No. 155800

  
  "Marital union is a two-way process. An expressive interest in each other's feelings at a time it is needed by the other can go a long way in deepening the marital relationship. Marriage is definitely not for children but for two consenting adults who view the relationship with love amor gignit amorem, respect, sacrifice and a continuing commitment to compromise, conscious of its value as a sublime social institution." - Chi Ming Tsoi v. Court of Appeals and Gina Lao- Tsoi, GR No. 119190

  
  "Love happens to everyone. It is dubbed to be boundless as it goes beyond the expectations people tagged with it. In love, “age does matter.” People love in order to be secure that one will share his/her life with another and that he/she will not die alone. Individuals who are in love had the power to let love grow or let love die – it is a choice one had to face when love is not the love he/she expected." - Padilla-Rumbaua v. Rumbaua, G.R. No. 166738

  
  "We cannot castigate a man for seeking out the partner of his dreams, for marriage is a sacred and perpetual bond which should be entered into because of love, not for any other reason." - Figueroa v. Barranco, Jr., SBC Case No. 519

   

  Indeed, even our respected magistrates are aware that sometimes we do things unacceptable to some people because of love. And I think, the only moral lesson we can learn from it is that love is magical and powerful but it’s up to know how to live with it.