Exactly what does “to love” mean for the Catholic Church?

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Most Catholic theologians would agree that to love is to "will the good of another." So, if you will what is good for someone, you are loving them. If someone needs food and you give it to them because you want what's good for them, that is love. If someone is sinning and you intervene to show them the error of their ways because you want them to go for heaven, you are willing their good. That is loving them.

When we talk about God as Love, this is what we mean. We are talking about willing what is good. To say that God willed creation into existence is the same as to say He loved it into existence. He loved what was not, and made it so, because it is better to be than not to be.

English speakers use love in a plethora of ways. We mean something different when we say we love our family vs our spouse vs our dog vs our country vs our job. But when the Church is talking about loving, she means willing the good of others.

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