Youth told: True love waits, stay chaste

TRUE love waits.

As the world celebrates Valentine’s Day today, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma reminded people about the real essence of love.

“Many times people associated love with just liking or mere feeling. But time and again, love should always be seen on what brings about the good for the other person,” he said.

Palma, who is also the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), admonished young people never to engage in pre-marital sex, which has been strongly opposed by the teachings of the Church.

“We know the rules. We know the consequences. If it destroys, it is no longer love,” he said.

True love, the prelate said, should mirror the love of Jesus who gave up His life for the beloved.

“If it builds me up; something that respects me as person; and something that makes me feel I’m appreciated for what I am, not just for my body or what the other person can get, that approximates the love of the Lord,” Palma said.

In loving, he said one should go beyond his or her emotion which would lead to nowhere.

“It’s not just liking, infatuation, attraction, or making use of the other person. But the love that ask what can I do to make the other person grow into the best that he or she can become, or how the other person can profit in my friendship and fulfill his or her roles as a good citizen and a devoted child of God,” Palma said.

“If the other person can show he or she is willing to sacrifice for the good of the other, that approximates the love of Jesus which is agape,” he added.

Valentine’s Day is derived from the feast of St. Valentine, a Roman priest who performed marriages despite a law by Emperor Claudius II prohibiting it. The emperor believed that marriage was distracting his soldiers. Fr. Valentine was martyred in A.D. 270.

St. Valentine became the patron of lovers and married couples./Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol