Augustinian

Spirituality

Week 2– St. Augustine on LOVE

20 February 2022

La Consolacion University Philippines

1
 Background
I. Love as Eros in Classical
Mythology:
a. Homer: eros means love or
desire
b. Hesiod: along with Chaos
and Gaia, Eros is a
primordial element 2
 Background
II. Love according to ancient
philosophers:
a. Empedocles: Love is a universal
force that binds together the
primordial elements
b. Plato: the soul’s longing for the
eternal, the human aspiration to
immortality and the likeness of the
Divine
3
 Background
c. Aristotle: Love as philia,
“good”, closely connected
to virtue, necessary for life
and for the attainment of
happiness
4
 Background
III. Judaeo-Christian tradition
 Love is a relationship with
the Divine
 Love becomes a
commandment and a
sacrament
5
 Background (Old Testament)

Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God,

the LORD alone. You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all
your might. Keep these words that I
am commanding you today in your
heart. (Deu 6:4-6 NRSV)
6
 Background (New Testament)

Teacher, which commandment in the law

is the greatest?" [Jesus] said to him,
"'You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind.' This is the greatest
and first commandment. And a second is
like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.' (Mat 22:36-39 NRSV)
7
 Background
Christian conception of love
(also called agape in the New
Testament): filial love for
God, brotherly love for our
neighbours and love for
ourselves.
8
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE (rooted in the Bible)
Sources:
1. Confessions
2. Soliloquies
3. Exegesis of Biblical
Texts
9
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
1. Love is a craving (appetitus)
– a motion towards something
 Our craving is determined by
what we think is the good that
will give us happiness!
 appetitus habendi (desire to
have) 10
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
2) The object that we love
could either lead towards
God or to Evil.
- Two types of love: good love
and evil love; both can exist
in a person
11
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
3) Two types of Love:
a. cupiditas – worldly love; clings
to the world; root of all evil
b. caritas – right love which
seeks for eternity; root of all
good
12
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
4. The RIGHT love consists in
the right object!
 To avoid evil, one must choose
to love God!
 The pleasures of the flesh, glory,
and power are empty desires
that lead to suffering. 13
 Augustine’s Teachings About LOVE

Too late I loved You, O Beauty so ancient, yet

ever new! Too late have I loved You! […] You
were within me, but I was not with You . Things
held me far from You, which, unless they were in
You, were not at all. You called and shouted,
and shattered my deafness. You flashed, shone,
and scattered my blindness. You breathed
odours, and I drew in breath and panted for
You. You touched me, and I burned for Your
peace. (Confessions Book X.38) 14
Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
[When there is] “anything
material that you love, it is
difficult for you not to be
jealous of someone who has
it.” (St. Augustine, In Praise of
Peace)
15
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
5. We are transformed by what
we love.

“What else is love except a kind of

life that binds or seeks to bind
together some two things, namely,
the lover and the beloved.” – St.
Augustine 16
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE

“Love, but be
- The right love consists in
the right object!
careful what
- To avoid evil, one must
you love.”
choose to love God!
– St. Augustine
17
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
6. The right kind of self-love
does not love the present
self that is going to die, but
that which will make one
live forever (the eternal
self)!
18
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
7. To pass from the fleeting to the
eternal, one must heed the
commandment of Jesus: love one’s
neighbor!
- Friendship rooted in the
Christian faith, the highest
manifestation of love for neighbor
19
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
8. What else ought we love if
we love God, the Supreme
Good?
 Peace (love for enemies)
 Justice
 Hospitality
 A good a blissful life 20
 Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE
9. How should we love?
- uninterestedly, i.e., love
without expecting praises
or material gifts in return

21
Augustine’s Teachings About
LOVE

One cannot
possess that
which one does
not love! 22
Augustine’s Teachings About LOVE

“I love Thee alone, Thee

alone follow, Thee alone
seek, Thee alone am I
ready to serve.”
(Confessions, Book I, 1.5)
23
 Conclusion
“Love and do what
you will.” – St. Augustine
- The reason behind our deeds
must always be LOVE!
24
 Food for Thought
“Love must prevail
over any scientific
preoccupation.”
-Teodora Prelipcean
25