Newsletter - March 2006
?DEUS CARITAS EST - GOD IS LOVE?, (1 Jn 4: 16)
Our Pope, Benedict XVI, started his pontificate in the sign of love.? From the beginning he has spoken words of acceptance, of tolerance, of reconciliation and understanding.? In his measured and well controlled speeches he reveals a high sense of optimism and hope, not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the whole humanity.
1.?His first Encyclical Letter, published on 25 January 2006, is also about love.? Reading his words, we realise that our Pope is a teacher as well as a true shepherd. His Encyclical Letter is divided into two parts with an introduction.? We read in the introduction these words: "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction."? Of course, the event is the Good News and the person is Christ.? The Good News is summarised in that that God first loved us and sent his Son among us (cf. 1 Jn 4: 10).? Thus, our love "is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us."
2.?IN THE FIRST PART of his letter, our Pope asserts that today the word love is frequently used. There are several kinds of love, but the love between man and woman stands out particularly. "This would seem the very epitome of love".? He explains, etymologically, philosophically and theologically, two terms which indicate love: "?ros" and "Ag?pe" (in Greek: Έρος, Αγ?πη).
??ros is the earthly or sexual love. According to the ancient Greeks it signified the love between man and woman. It was a kind of "divine madness" that would lead human beings to experience supreme happiness. Thus ?ros was? celebrated as divine power, as fellowship with the Divinity (n. 4). ?
?Ag?pe, on the other hand, expresses the experience of love which involves a real discovery of the other, moving beyond the selfish character that prevails in ?ros.? With agape, love becomes concern and care for the other. "No longer it is self seeking, a sinking in the intoxication of happiness; instead it seeks the good of the beloved: it becomes renunciation and it is ready, even willing, for sacrifice" (n. 6).
?In the Old Testament the word ?ros is used twice only. In the New Testament it is not known at all. We may say that Christianity opposed this kind of love, because it could be interpreted in a negative way, that is, it could reduce love to pure sex.? Also nowadays, Christianity opposes this form of love, because it is deceptive in the way it exalts the body only.? However, Christianity does not reject ?ros, but it purifies it, uniting it with ag?pe, because it is the entire person, body and soul, who loves. "Only when the two dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full stature" (n. 5).
3.?We really come to know love with Jesus Christ, the incarnate love of God.? Jesus made us know of this love through his entire life, through the parables, his words, which "...constitute the explanation of his very being and activity".? Jesus proved that with his death on the cross and with his enduring presence through his institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.? In the Old Testament Israel was at the presence of God. But with Jesus the new Israel has the possibility to be united with God "through sharing in Jesus' self-gift, sharing in his body and blood."?? This union has a social character, inasmuch as a person? becomes one with the Lord like all the other communicants. "Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians" (n. 14).
?As a consequence, we are asked to love God and, at the same time, to love our neighbour. "One is so closely connected with the other that to say that we love God becomes a lie if we are closed to our neighbour or hate him altogether" (n. 16). St. John is very clear about this (cf. 1 Jn 4: 10).?? To love my neighbour is to see the other with the eyes of Christ. It is not simply a matter of feelings, or of human help and of sympathy, but an act of faith. I must be united with God in order to love my neighbour. "If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more that the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God" (n. 18).
4.?IN THE SECOND PART of his Letter, Benedict XVI speaks of the practice of charity by the Church as "a community of love".? The Church's charitable activity must show the face of God to the world.
?The Pope indicates two essential elements that are intrinsic in the nature of the Church:
a) The Church must proclaim the word of God; she must celebrate the sacraments; she must exercise the ministry of charity.
b) "The Church is God's family in the world". For this reason the charity exercised by the Church must go beyond her boundaries to embrace all men.
?At this point in his Letter, our Pope speaks of the relationship between justice and charity.? He analyses the teaching of Marxism and rejects it, for it asserts that the world does not need charity but justice.? Instead, the social teachings of the Church, from Leo XII to John Paul II, give the true guidelines by which, not only the Church, but also the State must be lead.?? The social doctrine of the Church does not want to have the upper hand over the State, but to offer her contribution in forming the right conscience, so that the authentic demands of justice may be perceived, recognised and made true. On the other hand, the action of the State, exercising justice, must not forgo love, otherwise its action becomes just a mere bureaucratic intervention, without any consideration for the whole person.
5.?However, it is important that the charitable activity? of the Church maintains its identity.? Not only must it have the professional competence, but, above all, her action must derive from the personal encounter with Christ. It must also be independent from ideologies and parties, because the programme of the true Christian charity is patterned after the Good Samaritan and after Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
?Furthermore, Christian charity is never a means towards proselytism, for "love is gratuitous", it cannot have any other object but God.? The hymn to charity, written by St. Paul (1 Cor 13), is the Magna Charta for all theChurch's services, against any reduction of it or the deception of a sheer activism.?
6.?Finally our Pope reaffirms the importance of prayer. The living contact with Christ makes us avoid falling into pessimism in front of the immense task of exercising charity and also of human limits.? It is necessary to put confidence in God. This does not mean to give in to resignation or inertia.? "He who prays does not lose his time" - says Benedict XVI, and mentions the examples of many Saints:? Martin of Tours, Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, John of God, Camillus de Lellis, Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac. Giuseppe Cottolengo, John Bosco, Luigi Orione, Teresa of Calcutta, "to name a few - stand out as lasting models of social charity for all people of good will. The Saints are the true bearers of light within history. For they are men and women of faith, hope and love" (n. 41).?
?The Encyclical Letter ends with the following prayer, dedicated to the Virgin Mary:
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
you have given the world its true light,
Jesus, your Son - the Son of God.
You abandoned yourself completely to God's call
and thus became a wellspring of the goodness
which flows forth from him.
Show us Jesus. Lead us to him.
Teach us to know and love him,
so that we too can become
capable of true love
and be fountains of living water
in the midst of a thirsty world.