True Love

Asking St. Thomas Aquinas About the Path to Happiness. A philosophy professor at the Catholic University in Korea gives the readers his answers in the Catholic Times. His answer is that happiness is attained through Love, the mother of All Virtues.

True love must not remain merely an internal change but must manifest in outward actions. "True Love" Conveyed Through the Holy Spirit: A Spiritual Friendship Between God and Humanity Inspires joy, peace, and mercy; leads to the practice of good deeds and charity

In modern society, love is often dismissed as a mere personal emotion or a fleeting passion. However, in his *Summa Theologica*, Thomas Aquinas defines true love (*caritas*) not as a simple passion or a moral obligation, but as a supernatural virtue and habit (*habitus*) infused into the human soul through the Holy Spirit. This is something that cannot be attained through human nature’s power alone; rather, it is a spiritual friendship (*amicitia*) between God and humanity, established when God imparts His own true happiness to human beings.

Aquinas clearly distinguishes true love from *eros*—a natural desire—and emphasizes that "true love is friendship, but with the added distinction of being friendship directed toward God, the most precious and cherished of all beings" Ultimately, true love is a participation in the divine essence that transcends human effort; it is a gift of *communicatio*—a sharing of life—between God and humanity.

Furthermore, Aquinas emphasizes that true love is the "mother of all virtues" and the "form of all virtues". Any moral act lacking true love fails to reach the ultimate human goal: union with God. Such an act is merely a "false likeness of virtue" and, strictly speaking, carries the risk of degenerating into vice (II-II, 23, 7).

However, Aquinas does not stop at this theoretical systematization; he also analyzes the concrete effects that the virtue of true love has on a person's inner self and outward actions. Through this analysis, we can discover valuable guidance on how individuals in a fragmented modern society can restore true peace and communal bonds.

Aquinas identifies joy (*gaudium*) as the primary effect that true love produces within the human soul. This delight is the result that arises when the good one loves is present.

In modern society, many people suffer from constant anxiety and depression because they base their happiness on mutable goods, such as material achievements or the recognition of others. However, Thomas explains that because the goodness of God—the object of true love—never changes, the spiritual delight derived from it becomes a steadfast joy, unshaken by any external circumstances.