"Love is a gift from God, a sacred grace that invites us, indeed challenges us to respond with whatever capability we have within us to love God, one another and his creation."
With these words, Fr Vladimir Berzonsky penetrates the sublime yet mysterious passages from Song of Songs, I Corinthians and other books of the Bible which speak of love.
Much has been written in recent years about the difference between erotic love and the selfless, outpouring love called agape, which is both Christ-like and Christian; but it is the former type of love, according to Berzonsky, that conditions us for the latter. The Gift of Lovesuggests that we learn to love in stages, developing an ever greater power to become godlike in our affections, increasing our capacity to care less for the self and becoming filled with concern for God and all He made. The fifty-seven reflections in this book are written and intended to be read separately, yet all deal with the underlying theme of love as expressed in the Bible.
The Author:Fr Vladimir Berzonsky is pastor of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Parma, Ohio and lecturer in the Department of Religion at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio.
