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ST. SCHOLASTICA’S ACADEMY

Tabunok, Talisay City, Cebu
SY 2021 – 2022

LESSON 3 – GOD’S PAGPAPADAMA: WHAT MAKES US FALL AND STAY IN

LOVE WITH GOD

Objectives:
• Compare and contrast the three types of love—philia, eros, and agape
• Write a personal story of God’s unconditional love for them
• Imitate the kind of love that God has shown—agape

Lesson Essential Questions:

1. What incidents in your life wherein you felt God’s loving presence?
2. How can you remain faithful to God?

Introduction
“Pagkahulog ng loob” recalls the intense feelings associated with falling in love: napaibig,
naakit, nabighani, nabuhos ang pansin. It connotes deep involvement. Moreover, we have
suggested how the expression “pagkahulog ng loob” provides the occasion to pinpoint God’s
respectful approach and endearing concern. But we must also be alert to the possible downside in
“pagkahulog ng loob” expressed as mabulag (to be blinded). “Buo ang loob” makes us remember
that staying in love requires resolve and commitment.

The Centrality of Love in Christian Faith

It is neither accidental nor incidental that the distinctive quality identifying the followers of
Jesus Christ is one of love: “By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another” (Jn. 13:35). They abide by this imperative because their master had set an
example by loving them himself. The love which they have experienced from him is the same love
that they extend to others: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you” (Jn. 15:12). It is this love which primarily comes from God that enables them to love in turn:
“We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). May we not say, in translating this into the imagery
of falling and staying in love, that we fall in love with God because God is so much in love with us?
God’s gracious and selfless love captivates us. So crucial is this element in life that Paul regards
what Christians do, no matter how impressive, as meaningless without it. He declares,

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so
as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away
all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do
not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

“Falling and staying in love with God,” therefore, is crucial. Because of its centrality in our
life as Christians, it will have ripple effects on all aspects of human existence.
So it comes as no surprise that when the time came to describe who the God they believed
in, the early disciples did so in terms of love. The collective Christian experience of God in Jesus
Christ is summed up in the affirmation that “God is love” (cf. 1 Jn. 4:8,16). Bearing in mind what
we have said about the supreme importance of love, what the Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel
says of God makes much sense: “God is of no importance unless He is of supreme importance.” In
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the original Greek text of the New Testament, the distinct

Christian part of the Bible, the word for “love” is agápe.
This term denotes a love that is oriented towards the well-
being of the beloved.
Although agápe is not simply an emotion, it is
closely related to another Greek word for love, philia,
which connotes warmth, closeness and affection. Used for
someone cherished, the term is associated with a beautiful relationship as in true friendship. At
times the two words are even regarded as synonymous in meaning as when Jesus asks Peter thrice
whether the latter loves him (cf. Jn. 21:15-17). To ensure that the way God loves us is truly selfless,
John chose to use agápe. There is a sense of deliberateness and resoluteness in this word which
transcends limits that human emotions may at times block the growth of true love. The Bible
scholar, William Barclay, describes agápe as “the power to love the unlovable, to love people
whom we do not like.” Christians need to inculcate such a virtue because Christianity does demand
that we should have at all times a certain attitude of mind and a certain direction of the will
towards all people, no matter who they are. But agape is different from that other Greek word for
love, eros. The latter word means desire and is focused on the benefit that accrues to the lover in
the relationship, often in a context of sexual love. The meaning of eros degenerated towards the
negative that the New Testament avoided using it.

God as Kagandahang-loob in Jesus Christ

In kagandahang-loob we are not just talking about outward
beauty as the word ganda might indicate. The culture, after all,
knows of beauty that is superficial and even deceptive: ang gandang
panlabas lamang. But in the concept of kagandahang-loob, we are
speaking of a beauty which wells up from deep within the self, bukal
sa loob. This kind of beauty is not only ethically good, but winsomely
good as well. For us Filipinos, kagandahang-loob is “pure positivity”
(Edward Schillebeeckx) that captivates and wins people over. Surely
a reminder of someone who “went around doing good” (cf. Acts
10:38) and one who “has done everything beautifully” (cf. MK. 7:37).
For Christians this can only be Jesus Christ.
God is agápe; God is kagandahang-loob who freely and
Edward Schillebeeckx
graciously acts for the well-being of people (lubos na kaginhawahan)
without any thought of a return of the favor. Describing God in Jesus Christ as kagandahang-loob
goes beyond its references to kindheartedness, benevolence, beneficence, goodness as a specific
act. These do not quite capture the flavor which is found in the vernacular term. For kagandahang-
loob does not only mean divine goodness and benevolence; it is goodness and benevolence that
arise from the very core of God. When looked into more profoundly, the descriptive use of
kagandahang-loob for God yields a meaning equivalent to the divine “nature” the quality not just
of a relationship, but of the very Godness of God, albeit in a relational way. God’s loob, then, is
kagandahang-loob.

The Foundation of Faith: Pagpapadama ng Diyos

ng Kanyang Kagandahang-loob as “Revelation”
We can speak of God’s initiative in a way that is more in harmony with Filipino thought.
This we shall describe as God’s pagpapadama of divine kagandahang-loob or agápe. It is out of
God’s kagandahang-loob that our relationship with the GodSelf begins.

a. God’s Pagpapadama is Relational

First, kagandahang-loob calls our attention to the fact that what transpires between God
and people is a relationship that involves the deepest and most authentic reality of the self (loob).
Implied is the presupposition that kagandahang-loob is a relational concept; it cannot be known
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or demonstrated in isolation from fellow human

beings. God’s relationship of kagandahang-loob
is not a superficial one for it engages who God
truly is and who we truly are. As far as Paul was
concerned, God's pagpapadama was something
that occurred within him: “But when God who
had set me apart before I was born and called me
through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son
in me so that I might proclaim him among the
Gentiles…” (Gal. 1:15-16). Such kagandahang-loob is one that bestows dignity to us—tinatao
tayo—and in this way honors God as truly a God of genuine concern.
The fundamental relational character of loob is both retained and extended in
kagandahang-loob. This characteristic resonates and expresses well the orientation of Dei Verbum
towards relationality. It speaks of the divine action “through Christ, the Word made flesh ‘as
providing’ access to the Father in the Holy Spirit” in order to “share in the divine nature.” To bring
out even more the relational character of revelation, the document images God as intimately and
eagerly desirous of being close to people: “…The invisible God out of the abundance of His love
speaks to people as friends and lives among them so that He may invite and take them into
fellowship with Himself” (cf. Dei Verbum, art. 2).

b. God’s Pagpapadama is Life-giving

Second, kagandahang-loob indicates that
God’s relationship with people is directed towards
their well-being. In the document on divine
revelation of Vatican II, what God intends for
humanity is spoken of in terms of life.
Dei Verbum takes its direction from the
words of St. John found in 1 Jn. 1:1-3. The text
speaks about what the first disciples experienced
in and through Jesus and which they subsequently
proclaimed to others: “eternal life.” (cf. Dei
Verbum, art. 1). The life that they proclaim is
eternal because it comes from God who is “eternal.” It, therefore, means the God-given life. But
to appreciate what this “life” is all about, we need to look at the original Greek word used in the
New Testament, zoe. It has a different meaning from that other Greek word for life which is more
familiar, bios, the term employed to designate the subject of biology. Bios refers to what has life.
Hence, biology is the study of living things. Zoe, however, means the positive quality of life, a
meaningful life or a life worth living.

c. God’s Pagpapadama is Unconditional and Universal

Third, the element of initiative that is
part and parcel of kagandahang-loob
pinpoints the unconditionality and,
therefore the dependability, of God’s love.
The concept of kagandahang-loob connotes
that it is only so if it comes from the personal
initiative of the one acting. An act of
kagandahang-loob is graciously free. Forced
or manipulated kagandahang-loob is not
authentic. Not only should it come from the
loob, it should also arise from a genuinely
free decision and option of the person
concerned (kusang-loob). An indigenous expression even points to a level deeper than just the free
decision of a person. Bukal sa kalooban (i.e., welling up from the most authentic self) suggests that
the kagandahang-loob being manifested is truly in harmony with the most authentic in the person.
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It is being likened to a spring from an undoubtedly pure source. There is even an associated
meaning that any gesture of kagandahang-loob is unnocessary on the side of the subject. It need
not be done, but the wonder of it is that it is in actual fact done.
In addition, God does not discriminate, precisely because God’s love is not dependent on
us. This universal love that God has for all peoples is attested to by the prophet Amos. Imaging the
Lord God as speaking to Israel, the following is uttered: “Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O
people of Israel? says the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt and the Philistines
from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?” (Am. 9:7). No particular group or individual may claim
that they are deserving of more share of God’s kagandahang-loob than others.

d. God’s Pagpapadama Transcends Human Limitations

Fourth, kagandahang-loob suggests the lavish benevolence of
God that far exceeds human expectations. As a quality of a person
kagandahang-loob is also characterized by its tendency to an
“excessive” manifestation of goodness and generosity which goes
beyond the limits of necessity, duty or sufficiency or what is
considered usual, proper or just. As love, it is overwhelmingly
gracious and extravagant. This is probably why kagandahang-loob
either wins us over or it provokes suspicion of ulterior motive or even
opposition.
God would love and care for us beyond merit, beyond
expectations and beyond reason. St. Paul, seemingly expecting
puzzlement over this, states clearly that this is to be expected: “…We
proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness
to Gentiles, but to those who are called…Christ is the power of God
and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness
is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:23-25). But our understanding of Jesus as a person with
a magandang kalooban assures us that this gospel is “too good to be false” (Horacio de la Costa).
In other words, the extraordinary friendship which God extends to all unconditionally is pure
graciousness and beyond measure. This is what Jesus reveals to us of God, kagandahang-loob na
walang kapantay.

e. God’s Pagpapadama is Historical

Revelation as pagpapadama ng Diyos ng kanyang kagandahang-loob is historical in two
senses. It is so, first of all, because it occurs in history, the concatenation of human experiences.
And secondly, revelation is historical because there is actually a sequence of events that lead up
to its completion in Jesus Christ.

God’s Pagpapadama in History

Salvation is revealed in and through
ordinary day-to-day experiences of people. It
is not outside this life but within the
processes and details of our everyday
experiences that God’s kagandahang-loob is
made visible and palpable. On occasions
certain experiences prove to be striking and
may even take our breath away.
We do not experience God’s
captivating love only once nor only in
extraordinary ways. Our human experience
of falling in love may tend to be ephemeral,
but the very same experience may be the occasion of beginning or deepening a genuine personal
relationship as a local song suggests. Likewise, falling in love with God may occur time and again.
But we do need to be attentive to God’s loving presence by having a listening heart. Or, as someone
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had expressed the same point with a different metaphor, “There’s chemistry between us and God;
the world’s charged with Him, Our every heartbeat. We need to awake to His wooing.”

God’s Pagpapadama as the History of "Salvation"

This last benefit in using the concept of kagandahang-loob to understand “revelation” also
presupposes a history of God’s way of relating with humankind and with our created world. Just
as the real self of a person is not known hastily, so it is with the GodSelf. The God of the Judeo-
Christian faith was not known and recognized as kagandahang-loob all at once. It took a long lime.
Vatican II alluded to this in its document on divine revelation.
The ways of this “God of supreme love” came to be gradually known “by experience” (cf.
Der Verbum, art. 14), particularly in the persons of Abraham, Moses and the prophets. It was only
in Jesus Christ that the Godself was experienced in a definite and definitive manner as
kagandahang-loob. “Then, after speaking in many places and varied ways through the prophets,”
declares Dei Verbum, art. 4, “God last of all in these days has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1-
2). Jesus Christ was sent by the Father to dwell among us and tell us “the innermost realities about
God.” It is He who “completes the work of salvation which His father gave Him to do (cf. Jn. 5:36,
17:4).” Thus, in Jesus we have come to know who God really is for us because “to see Jesus is to
see the Father (Jn. 14:9).” The God experienced and known definitely and definitively in and
through Jesus Christ is the(God of agápe or kagandahang-loob.
Definitely, because we have certainty in faith that it is so. Definitively, because the person
of Jesus “defines” what kind of God we believe in. He is the foundation and reference point in
knowing and loving God. Jesus Christ is God-for-us.

f. God’s Pagpapadama is Trinitarian

One important aspect of God’s Pagpapadama
which as retrieved by Vatican II from overall
theological neglect concerns its trinitarian singularity.
Before Vatican II while much was said about Jesus
Christ, little was mentioned about the Father, and the
Spirit was spoken of the least. The reality and
importance of the Holy Spirit in Christian faith was
relegated in the background of theological talk. In fact,
the Spirit was often referred to as “the forgotten God.”
Reference to Jesus in theology overshadowed the
reality of the Father, much more so the truth about the
spirit. And yet God as triune is the Christian form of
believing in one God. So, Dei Verbum, when it put forth
its view of God’s Pagpapadama, made sure that its trinitarian character would not be put aside
again.
In its metaphorical use of “word” (dabar), the Father is seen as “speaking,” the Son is
considered the “spoken” Word of the Father, and the Spirit is the effective power of such speaking
and spoken Word.
One may also prefer to consider the Trinity in terms of three interconnected moments. It
starts with the Father’s great love for humankind and His sending of the Son, then continuing with
the making visible and palpable this immense love by the Son, and carried on towards culmination
through the abiding presence of the Spirit that takes us up into the very Self of God, who is love.
This total event, remarks Bible scholar Barbara Reid, is “analogous to falling in love” as “it is
something self-transcending that happens to us and transforms us.”