THE SCIENCE OF LOVE  
A Study in the Teachings of Therese of Lisieux
by John C. H. Wu
  

3. Love and Science  

Shortly before his death, Goethe said to Eckermann, "Let mental culture go on advancing; let the natural sciences go on gaining in depth and breadth, and the human mind expand as it may--it will never go beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity as it glistens and shines forth in the Gospel!"[2] Since these words were uttered, more than a century has passed during which the natural sciences have made tremendous progress, and psychology has probed deep into the darkest nooks and corners of the human mind. But have we gone beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity? No, Christianity still continues to shine as the Morning Star and will continue to shine to the end of time. In fact, as Pope Pius XI pointed out, "It might even be said that a knowledge of Nature will serve as an introduction to what is of far greater value, an understanding of things supernatural."[3] The more science grows, the nearer we shall be to a living Faith. Material civilization is a welcome fuel to the fire of love. If the fire is weak, it may be smothered by the fuel. But if the fire is strong, the more fuel it has to feed on, the brighter will be its flame.

I have just read a love song of ancient China:

"A quiet girl,--oh, she is charming!

She gave me a roseate flute.

Oh, how splendid are the colors of the flute! How they chime in with the

beauty of the girl!

From the pastures she brought rush-wool, Beautiful and rare indeed!

Oh, rush-wool, you would not be so lovely,

If you were not the gift of my love."

I wonder what a modern girl would present to her lover. Instead of a roseate flute, she might give a motor-car or a radio set. Instead of rush- wool, she might give a piece of brocade or even a gorgeous rug. The important thing is love, and so long as love is there, what difference does it make how it happens to manifest itself.

If there is any difference at all, one would prefer a radio to a roseate

flute, and brocade to rush-wool. Love has nothing to lose and everything to

gain by the continual progress of civilization. And how can science ever

supersede Christianity, which is the Religion of Love "par excellence?"

To my mind, the most beautiful exposition of the philosophy of Love is that of St. Paul.[4] Let me present it in my own paraphrase:

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is free from envy, free from vanity, free from pride, free from ambition, free from self-seeking, free from anger, and free from resentfulness. Love finds no joy in the errings of others, but is gladdened by goodness and truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love is a living fountain that never dries up.

No one is more gifted than St. Paul, and no one knows better that all gifts are of no account if they are not lit up by the flame of Love. He expresses this perfectly when he says:

I may be able to speak all the languages of men and of angels, but if I have no love, I am no better than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. I may be able to prophesy, I may fathom all mysteries, I may possess all knowledge, I may even have such faith as would move mountains, but if I have no love, I am nothing. I may distribute all my goods to feed the poor, I may even offer my body to be burnt, but if I have no love, there is no virtue in these actions.

The whole trouble about modern civilization seems to me to lie just in this: "here is too much love of science and too little science of love."

"The science of love!" exclaimed little Therese, "Ah! sweet is the echo of that word to the ear of my soul! I desire no other science than that. For the sake of love, having given all my riches, like the spouse in the Canticles, I feel as though I had given nothing. There is nothing except love which could render us agreeable to the good God. This is so plain to me that this love has become the sole treasure upon which I set my heart."[5] To give all and to reckon it as nothing--that is the acme of love!  
 

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