I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you (John 15:15).
Monsignor Pope has an excellent article today on phileo, that is, the love of friendship. Phileo is a Greek word and the Greek language has four different words for “love” each with its own specific meaning. He explains the other three words, eros, agape, and, a new one for me, storge. Monsignor addresses the demise of friendship, especially between men, in the wake of the fear of the unnatural sexualization of any kind of familiar relationship due to the homosexual movement.
What a tragedy for the younger generations that have been the most victimized by the deluge of sex.
I remember, studying in Rome, just forty years ago, how amazed I was by seeing young women, and men also sometimes, walking arm in arm. It was totally innocent. The men were obviously friends if not relatives. If a young girl saw her mother or grandmother walking up the street with a bag of groceries they would run down to street to take her bag and her arm in their arm. I was so edified. You just did not see that in the desensitized, crude America that I grew up in. We have been both sexualized and puritanized, both extremes are corrupting Catholic culture.
Enough said. Let us take Monsignor Pope’s counsel to heart and learn to love our friends again, in true phileo love, even if we do not show it.
Community in Mission: One of the casualties of the sexual revolution has been the love that is friendship. The Greek language has several different words for love. The love between friends is phileo, and is different from eros (physical, sensual love), storge (family love), and agape (selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love of God or another). Modern English sadly lacks such distinctions. However, in the past we were pretty well able navigate the different types of love and not read inaccurate motivations into them. Read the full article here.
