—Feast of St. John Chrysostom
Love: Agape, Storge, Phileo, Eros. The four Greek words for love. Currently, all evidence points to modern culture being stuck on eros alone, while ignoring the other three.At least that is how it seems to me. C.S. Lewis wrote a book that I need to get to one of these days, entitled The Four Loves. There needs to be a balance of Love and when one type dominates, harmony is shattered. What to do? How about some songs.
Four words for love and four songs about love, none of which are about eros. Because frankly, there is more than enough coverage of eros nowadays and not near enough about Agape, Storge, and Phileo.
Genesis, Land of Confusion. Phil Collins and Company singing of the times back in the 80's. The irony is, it could just as easily be about 80, 880, 1080, 1480,1980, 2080. The key issue is the same; "there's not much love to go round." What are we waitng for? There is no time with God: a thousand years, a single day: it is all one. (2 Peter 3:8)
U2,The Fly. Maybe you never heard this song, or it's message from Bono and the Gang. It didn't exactly climb up the charts. Lead singer Bono comments "I always thought 'The Fly' was the phone call from Hell. It took 'U2' 15 years to get from Psalms to Ecclesiastes and its only one book!" Lots of messages unbundled here.
Tears for Fears, Sowing the Seeds of Love. One of my wife's favorite songs, and mine too. And great symbolism in this video as well. I especially like the planting of the seed, and then looking to the left and right and seeing others doing the same. In my mind, St. Paul's exhortation in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 comes to life. That and the words of Our Lord,
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. (John 12.24). I can only speak for myself when I admit that I need to plant more seeds of love, and fewer seeds of self-interest.
Lenny Kravitz, Let Love Rule. Okay. The video quality is horrible, but the sound and the message? It doesn't get much better than this. And all of us can play a part, use our own creativity and improvisations to bring love to bear on our interactions with others. Just like Lenny's band members do here. It's what we are called to do. We can't do it alone though, but through prayer and community, we have a chance to bring a little sanity into the world.
Love Always,
Frank
