Today’s Treasures from 'Amoris Laetitia' (145-152): On Emotional, Joyful, and Erotic Love

• To believe that we are good simply because “we feel good” is a tremendous illusion. There are those who feel themselves capable of great love only because they have a great need for affection, yet they prove incapable of the effort needed to bring happiness to others. They remain caught up in their own needs and desires. (145)
• Marital love strives to ensure that one’s entire emotional life benefits the family as a whole and stands at the service of its common life. (146)
• A person can certainly channel his passions in a beautiful and healthy way, increasingly pointing them towards altruism and an integrated self-fulfilment that can only enrich interpersonal relationships in the heart of the family. (148)
• In no way, then, can we consider the erotic dimension of love simply as a permissible evil or a burden to be tolerated for the good of the family. Rather, it must be seen as gift from God that enriches the relationship of the spouses. (152)