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Encyclicals & Exhortations of Benedict XVI
God is Love: Deus Caritas Est
In today's high-tech, fast-paced world, love is often portrayed as being separate from Church teaching. With his first encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI hopes to overturn that perception and describe the essential place of love in the life of the Church. The Holy Father explains the various dimensions of love, highlighting the distinctions between eros and agape, Jesus as the incarnate love of God, and the scriptural law of love. In part two, he links the Church's charitable work with the love of God as Trinity, noting that the Church must express love through acts of justice and charity. This encyclical is an ideal reflection for religious and civic leaders, those preparing for marriage, and those engaged in justice and charitable work.
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 25, 2006
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About the author
Pope Benedict XVI
943 books935 followersOriginally
Joseph Ratzinger
, a noted conservative theologian before his election in 2005, Benedict XVI strove against the influence of secularism during his papacy to defend traditional Catholic teachings but since medieval times first resigned in 2013.
After Joseph Ratzinger served a long career as an academic and a professor at the University of Regensburg, Pope Paul VI appointed him as archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, one most important office of the Roman curia. He also served as dean of the college of cardinals.
Benedict XVI reigned 265th in virtue of his office of bishop of Rome, the sovereign of the state of Vatican City and the head of the Church. A conclave named him on 19 April 2005; he celebrated his inaugural Mass on 24 April 2005 and took possession of his Lateran cathedral basilica of Saint John on 7 May 2005.
Benedict XVI succeeded Saint John Paul II, predecessor and his prolific writings on doctrine and values. Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increase of many developed countries. Relativism denied objective truth and moral truths in particular; he viewed this central problem of the 21st century. With the importance of the Church, he understood redemptive love of God. He reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism" "of many Christians engaged in charitable work." Benedict also revived a number and elevated the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position.
Benedict founded and patronized of the Ratzinger foundation, a charitable organization, which from the sale of books and essays makes money to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Due to advanced age on 11 February 2013, Benedict announced in a speech in Latin and cited a "lack of strength of mind and body" before the cardinals. He effectively left on 28 February 2013.As emeritus, Benedict retained the style of His Holiness, and the title and continued to dress in the color of white. He moved into the newly renovated monastery of Mater Ecclesiae for his retirement. Pope Francis succeeded him on 13 March 2013.
(more info on Ratzinger Foundation: https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology...)
After Joseph Ratzinger served a long career as an academic and a professor at the University of Regensburg, Pope Paul VI appointed him as archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, one most important office of the Roman curia. He also served as dean of the college of cardinals.
Benedict XVI reigned 265th in virtue of his office of bishop of Rome, the sovereign of the state of Vatican City and the head of the Church. A conclave named him on 19 April 2005; he celebrated his inaugural Mass on 24 April 2005 and took possession of his Lateran cathedral basilica of Saint John on 7 May 2005.
Benedict XVI succeeded Saint John Paul II, predecessor and his prolific writings on doctrine and values. Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increase of many developed countries. Relativism denied objective truth and moral truths in particular; he viewed this central problem of the 21st century. With the importance of the Church, he understood redemptive love of God. He reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism" "of many Christians engaged in charitable work." Benedict also revived a number and elevated the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position.
Benedict founded and patronized of the Ratzinger foundation, a charitable organization, which from the sale of books and essays makes money to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Due to advanced age on 11 February 2013, Benedict announced in a speech in Latin and cited a "lack of strength of mind and body" before the cardinals. He effectively left on 28 February 2013.As emeritus, Benedict retained the style of His Holiness, and the title and continued to dress in the color of white. He moved into the newly renovated monastery of Mater Ecclesiae for his retirement. Pope Francis succeeded him on 13 March 2013.
(more info on Ratzinger Foundation: https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology...)
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February 22, 2021
2021. Rereading for Lent.
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2017. Rereading as a morning devotional. It's been 5 years. It's time to read it again.
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This was my third time through Pope Benedict's brilliant first encyclical God Is Love. Our Catholic women's book club read it for our May discussion.
Just reading the opening paragraphs made me remember what a wonderful piece of thinking and writing this is. And how brilliant Pope Benedict is at expressing not only the intellectual but also the heart of the matter. He also shows his practical side and that he is not isolated in an ivory tower but understands very well what it means to be human, craving the love of God and of our fellow men.
This is a piece I could recommend to everyone: atheists wanting to know the point of Christianity, non-Christians wanting to know the heart of the Gospel, Christians wanting to know more about Catholics and ... more than anyone ... to Catholics who need to be refreshed in their faith and reminded that love is the heart of God and the heart of our faith. What a powerful work by someone who thinks so deeply and yet is able to communicate so well. Amazing.
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2017. Rereading as a morning devotional. It's been 5 years. It's time to read it again.
==================
This was my third time through Pope Benedict's brilliant first encyclical God Is Love. Our Catholic women's book club read it for our May discussion.
Just reading the opening paragraphs made me remember what a wonderful piece of thinking and writing this is. And how brilliant Pope Benedict is at expressing not only the intellectual but also the heart of the matter. He also shows his practical side and that he is not isolated in an ivory tower but understands very well what it means to be human, craving the love of God and of our fellow men.
This is a piece I could recommend to everyone: atheists wanting to know the point of Christianity, non-Christians wanting to know the heart of the Gospel, Christians wanting to know more about Catholics and ... more than anyone ... to Catholics who need to be refreshed in their faith and reminded that love is the heart of God and the heart of our faith. What a powerful work by someone who thinks so deeply and yet is able to communicate so well. Amazing.
January 18, 2009
Finished Deus Caritas Est or God is Love for the second time 15 January 2009. The first time I read Deus Caritas Est (DCE) was also my initial exposure to an Encyclical, a Papal Letter, as well as to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. I was not disappointed on either account; in fact just the opposite. This second reading, however, I really appreciated DCE and its author!
If you've never read any Church documents, I can't recommend a better place to begin. I'm sure PBXVI had that in mind when he contemplated his first Encyclical. Given 'his reputation as a strong authoritarian who was set upon disciplining many in the Church and reprimanding “the world”,'* no doubt Pope Benedict's choice of "Love" as a topic for his first official letter as pope must have surprised many. It would seem to be out-of-character to those who rely on the news media as their basis of opinion for public figures. But for those who knew the real man, the quiet scholar, the faithful priest, it was a statement about his life's devotion to Jesus Christ who is Love Incarnate.
The first half of the book is entitled "The Unity of Love in Creation and in Salvation History" and by the Pope's own admission, 'it is more speculative' since he wanted 'to clarify some essential facts concerning the love which God mysteriously and gratuitously offers to man, together with the intrinsic link between that love and the reality of human love.' (DCE 1) In this first section, PBXVI deals with the problem of language and how the word 'Love' is used, misused and misunderstood. There is an explanation of the differences between eros and agape love, a refutation of Nietzsche's claim that Christianity destroyed eros and the fulfillment of God's Love through The Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
The second part of the book, Caritas, The Practice of Love by the Church as a "Community of Love" deals with the proper practice for Church today, that of being manifest love. If we call ourselves Christians, then Charity, or Love, is our responsibility--Charity in all its many forms. Works of charity should not blind us, nor do they relieve us of the responsibility to work for justice. Even so, the Holy Father points out that, 'The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics...(and) the State may not impose religion, yet it must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between the followers of different religions.' (DCE 28) However, no matter what system man creates, 'Love--caritas--will prove necessary, even in the most just society.' (DCE 28)
Deus Caritas Est reveals a man in love with a God of Love. It is a beautiful synthesis of the Christian Gospel and a perfect first Encyclical. Read it!
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Rereading in anticipation of our BBC discussion beginning next week. This was the first thing I ever read by Pope Benedict XVI and it literally blew me away. I wish I'd written a review at the time; I can rarely recapture my initial impressions in appropriate language except to say if it was favorable or not. Perhaps I'll be able to do a second read-through review.
* During his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger was often caricaturized as a “rigid” enforcer of Church Dogma. This adverse judgment on him had no basis in fact; nonetheless it was the portrait of him that many had chosen to accept. It is true that it was his job to protect Church doctrine, which sometimes required him to reprimand or to discipline wayward theologians, but the image of him perpetuated by the media was, and is, far from the truth. Those who know him well describe him as a brilliant, but rather shy and retiring professor type, who always strives to speak from the heart of the Church. Those inside and outside of the Church respect Pope Benedict for his great intellect and learning. By all accounts, he is unfailingly kind and has a great capacity for listening, even to those with whom he does not agree. In short, he is a faithful disciple of Jesus and the Church.' (Extracted from the Diocese of Pittsburgh Study Guide which our group is using).
If you've never read any Church documents, I can't recommend a better place to begin. I'm sure PBXVI had that in mind when he contemplated his first Encyclical. Given 'his reputation as a strong authoritarian who was set upon disciplining many in the Church and reprimanding “the world”,'* no doubt Pope Benedict's choice of "Love" as a topic for his first official letter as pope must have surprised many. It would seem to be out-of-character to those who rely on the news media as their basis of opinion for public figures. But for those who knew the real man, the quiet scholar, the faithful priest, it was a statement about his life's devotion to Jesus Christ who is Love Incarnate.
The first half of the book is entitled "The Unity of Love in Creation and in Salvation History" and by the Pope's own admission, 'it is more speculative' since he wanted 'to clarify some essential facts concerning the love which God mysteriously and gratuitously offers to man, together with the intrinsic link between that love and the reality of human love.' (DCE 1) In this first section, PBXVI deals with the problem of language and how the word 'Love' is used, misused and misunderstood. There is an explanation of the differences between eros and agape love, a refutation of Nietzsche's claim that Christianity destroyed eros and the fulfillment of God's Love through The Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ.
The second part of the book, Caritas, The Practice of Love by the Church as a "Community of Love" deals with the proper practice for Church today, that of being manifest love. If we call ourselves Christians, then Charity, or Love, is our responsibility--Charity in all its many forms. Works of charity should not blind us, nor do they relieve us of the responsibility to work for justice. Even so, the Holy Father points out that, 'The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics...(and) the State may not impose religion, yet it must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between the followers of different religions.' (DCE 28) However, no matter what system man creates, 'Love--caritas--will prove necessary, even in the most just society.' (DCE 28)
Deus Caritas Est reveals a man in love with a God of Love. It is a beautiful synthesis of the Christian Gospel and a perfect first Encyclical. Read it!
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Rereading in anticipation of our BBC discussion beginning next week. This was the first thing I ever read by Pope Benedict XVI and it literally blew me away. I wish I'd written a review at the time; I can rarely recapture my initial impressions in appropriate language except to say if it was favorable or not. Perhaps I'll be able to do a second read-through review.
* During his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger was often caricaturized as a “rigid” enforcer of Church Dogma. This adverse judgment on him had no basis in fact; nonetheless it was the portrait of him that many had chosen to accept. It is true that it was his job to protect Church doctrine, which sometimes required him to reprimand or to discipline wayward theologians, but the image of him perpetuated by the media was, and is, far from the truth. Those who know him well describe him as a brilliant, but rather shy and retiring professor type, who always strives to speak from the heart of the Church. Those inside and outside of the Church respect Pope Benedict for his great intellect and learning. By all accounts, he is unfailingly kind and has a great capacity for listening, even to those with whom he does not agree. In short, he is a faithful disciple of Jesus and the Church.' (Extracted from the Diocese of Pittsburgh Study Guide which our group is using).
June 2, 2023
First time reading Benedict after only experiencing him through the bizarre Catholic internet hype machine, and I have to say they undersold him. Unbelievably good. Took me so long to read 64 pages because I kept stopping to pray with every few paragraphs, and I still definitely sped through it too fast. A masterpiece.
September 1, 2022
"Love is the light - ultimately the only light - that illuminates the world shrouded in darkness again and again, and gives us the courage we need to live and act."
"God is love!"
"Ljubav je svjetlo - u konačnici jedino svjetlo - koje uvijek iznova rasvjetljuje svijet obavijen tamom i daje nam hrabrosti potrebne za život i djelovanje."
"Bog je ljubav!"
"God is love!"
"Ljubav je svjetlo - u konačnici jedino svjetlo - koje uvijek iznova rasvjetljuje svijet obavijen tamom i daje nam hrabrosti potrebne za život i djelovanje."
"Bog je ljubav!"
June 5, 2020
Pensaba en un libro denso lleno de teología, es desarrollado por un hombre con un gran intelecto y sabiduría, con referencias no sólo hacia la biblia sino que incluye teología, historia y derecho. Digno de leer y aprender.
April 15, 2013
my favorite encyclical, at least from Pope Benedict
My two favorite quotes:
"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" (no. 1).
"Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings...Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave" (no. 18).
My two favorite quotes:
"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" (no. 1).
"Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings...Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave" (no. 18).
February 26, 2019
... love has thousand faces,
thousand and more names ...
yet is is not a doctrine, not a mere idea ...
for love is an encounter ...
and only that can be a source of charity, of doing well to the others ...
thousand and more names ...
yet is is not a doctrine, not a mere idea ...
for love is an encounter ...
and only that can be a source of charity, of doing well to the others ...
October 7, 2021
Excellent!
This encyclical is divided into two parts: theoretical and actual, i.e. theological and faith-in-action.
I liked his thoughts on eros + agape in God's love, but for me, the faith-in-action bit gave me the most takeaways (two big ones):
1. I thought his statement that Justice and Charity are both important in society BUT Justice is mainly the government's purview (with advice from the Church) and Charity is mostly the Church's purview (that was the quick and dirty summary, it's a bit more complicated) was REALLY interesting, especially with the added observation that *both* are the responsibility of the layperson.
2. The idea that we are not superior to people because we are serving them--we have simply been given the grace to do so--was Important, and I need to reread that article periodically, I think. XD
Can one rate a papal encyclical? I'd give this one four stars. :)
This encyclical is divided into two parts: theoretical and actual, i.e. theological and faith-in-action.
I liked his thoughts on eros + agape in God's love, but for me, the faith-in-action bit gave me the most takeaways (two big ones):
1. I thought his statement that Justice and Charity are both important in society BUT Justice is mainly the government's purview (with advice from the Church) and Charity is mostly the Church's purview (that was the quick and dirty summary, it's a bit more complicated) was REALLY interesting, especially with the added observation that *both* are the responsibility of the layperson.
2. The idea that we are not superior to people because we are serving them--we have simply been given the grace to do so--was Important, and I need to reread that article periodically, I think. XD
Can one rate a papal encyclical? I'd give this one four stars. :)
February 24, 2024
Read with Sophie. His writing is so very clear and lucid. A must-read book. It's not hard going and I think it is essential for really understanding that at its heart Christianity is not a set of rules and customs but a relationship, a love affair.
December 13, 2024
So good. I’m not sure why I waited so long to read it!
April 28, 2009
Deus Caritas Est is no esoteric, concise peroration on a single specific aspect of modern life. Rather, it is a broad sweep taking as its general subject matter what Christian charity is. It begs for more depth on each of the issues it takes on, but it is very impressive in weaving charity into a seamless garment.
March 23, 2009
Excellent book. I especially liked where Pope Benedict stated, "Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities;I can give them the look of love which they crave." If we replace the common look of indifference with the look of love, even then the world would change.
January 3, 2024
“This is due first and foremost to the fact that man is a being made up of body and soul. Man is truly himself when his body and soul are intimately united; the challenge of eros can be said to be truly overcome when this unification is achieved. Should he aspire to be pure spirit and to reject the flesh as pertaining to his animal nature alone, then spirit and body would both lose their dignity. On the other hand, should he deny the spirit and consider matter, the body, as the only reality, he would likewise lose his greatness. The epicure Gassendi used to offer Descartes the humorous greeting:
"O Soul!" And Descartes would reply: "O Flesh!" Yet it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full stature. Only thus is love eros-able to mature and attain its authentic grandeur. “
( p.g 8)
"O Soul!" And Descartes would reply: "O Flesh!" Yet it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united, does man attain his full stature. Only thus is love eros-able to mature and attain its authentic grandeur. “
( p.g 8)
October 4, 2023
Deus Caritas Est was a comprehensive yet easy to grasp encyclical. It outlined the nature of God’s love for us, how we can share that love with our neighbors, and the Church’s role in charity in our modern world. It was really refreshing and made clear an important issue that I had never fully grasped as a cradle Catholic. God is Love.
April 9, 2014
It is the first encyclical I have read and it turns out to be a good experience. After more than 100 years, the church finally has an answer to Nietzshce’s criticism of her view on love:
Many people on the modern world agree with Nietzsche. The Church with its rules and prohibitions has really poisoned Eros. The view of the Church on contraception - which said that contraception is "repugnant to the nature of man and of woman, and is consequently in opposition to the plan of God and His holy will” [Pope Paul VI] - is where the attacked is strongest.
In this short encyclical, Pope Benedict gives a clear and thoughtful essay about the view of the Church. Pope Benedict may be a bad leader but I have to say that he is a very good theologian and writer. Agree or not with his view, I have to admit that this book clearly shows what christians believe, their ground and the reason for it. At least, finally, the church give Nietzsche an direct answer. Will Nietzsche be happy with this? I don’t think so.
So the answer of the Pope is simple and direct. After confirming the church view that sex is important -“love between man and woman, where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness”, and recognizes the error of the church to oppose the body. He begins to answer Nietzsche. It is not the Church but the modern world who poison Eros. The modern world considers Eros as merely sexual pleasure. Sex is only considered to be pleasure, or recreation.
He argues that unbound sexual desire binds us to self-destruction. Eros needs to be disciplined and purified because it represents only a half-truth. Man is not only body but also soul.
The modern world “dehumanization" of eros can only be cured by discipline, purification, renunciation, and, finally, sacrifice, according to him.
This gives the reason for the christian stress on fidelity and sexual abstinence. The solution to HIV/AIDS, STDs, teen pregnancy, and over population is not condom but sexual responsibility.
So it is the modern world recreational sex vs idealistic christian unification of body and soul, the practical condom vs the idealistic fidelity. Everybody will have different views on this. I am quite sure that Nietzsche will laugh at this. But at least the Church finally gives an official and direct answer. The good news is that the Church is now quite tolerant, especially with pope Francis. "Whom am I to judge”. The Church finally is trying to be humble.
The second part of the encyclical is great. I love the humble tone in this part. It reconfirmed the christian neighborhood love and charity. It set rules and goals for the charity responsibility of the Church. It deals with the relation between the church and government. It set the christianity's stand on justice, poverty, charity. It confirms the Church belief in an elegant society. This is where the Church could shine. I am quite happy that pope Francis is shifting the focus of the Church to this area.
There are many nice teachings (or reminds) in this part for christians:
A must read for christians. For other people, a humble recommendation.
“Christianity gave Eros poison to drink; he did not die of it, certainly, but degenerated to Vice.
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil”
Many people on the modern world agree with Nietzsche. The Church with its rules and prohibitions has really poisoned Eros. The view of the Church on contraception - which said that contraception is "repugnant to the nature of man and of woman, and is consequently in opposition to the plan of God and His holy will” [Pope Paul VI] - is where the attacked is strongest.
In this short encyclical, Pope Benedict gives a clear and thoughtful essay about the view of the Church. Pope Benedict may be a bad leader but I have to say that he is a very good theologian and writer. Agree or not with his view, I have to admit that this book clearly shows what christians believe, their ground and the reason for it. At least, finally, the church give Nietzsche an direct answer. Will Nietzsche be happy with this? I don’t think so.
So the answer of the Pope is simple and direct. After confirming the church view that sex is important -“love between man and woman, where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness”, and recognizes the error of the church to oppose the body. He begins to answer Nietzsche. It is not the Church but the modern world who poison Eros. The modern world considers Eros as merely sexual pleasure. Sex is only considered to be pleasure, or recreation.
“Eros, reduced to pure “sex”, has become a commodity, a mere “thing” to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity. This is hardly man's great “yes” to the body”
He argues that unbound sexual desire binds us to self-destruction. Eros needs to be disciplined and purified because it represents only a half-truth. Man is not only body but also soul.
“Man is a being made up of body and soul. Man is truly himself when his body and soul are intimately united.”
“eros needs to be disciplined and purified if it is to provide not just fleeting pleasure, but a certain foretaste of the pinnacle of our existence, of that beatitude for which our whole being yearns.”
The modern world “dehumanization" of eros can only be cured by discipline, purification, renunciation, and, finally, sacrifice, according to him.
This gives the reason for the christian stress on fidelity and sexual abstinence. The solution to HIV/AIDS, STDs, teen pregnancy, and over population is not condom but sexual responsibility.
So it is the modern world recreational sex vs idealistic christian unification of body and soul, the practical condom vs the idealistic fidelity. Everybody will have different views on this. I am quite sure that Nietzsche will laugh at this. But at least the Church finally gives an official and direct answer. The good news is that the Church is now quite tolerant, especially with pope Francis. "Whom am I to judge”. The Church finally is trying to be humble.
The second part of the encyclical is great. I love the humble tone in this part. It reconfirmed the christian neighborhood love and charity. It set rules and goals for the charity responsibility of the Church. It deals with the relation between the church and government. It set the christianity's stand on justice, poverty, charity. It confirms the Church belief in an elegant society. This is where the Church could shine. I am quite happy that pope Francis is shifting the focus of the Church to this area.
There are many nice teachings (or reminds) in this part for christians:
“it has no intention of giving the Church power over the State. Even less is it an attempt to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith. Its aim is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just.”
“Those who practise charity in the Church's name will never seek to impose the Church's faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak.”
“We recognize that we are not acting on the basis of any superiority or greater personal efficiency, but because the Lord has graciously enabled us to do so.”
A must read for christians. For other people, a humble recommendation.
January 19, 2014
This was the first document authored by pope Benedict XVI which I read completely. I have heard a lot about his works, mostly praise, and I had the opportunity to listen to him twice live, and to read excerpts of his works on many occasions. These small insights about his theology and his intellect were enough to give me an impression of a great theologian and a great man. I was eager to start reading, and I was definitely not disappointed.
The theme of the encyclical was a total success, especially because it was the first for pope Benedict. Love, a basic message and a milestone of Christianity. I expected a long and hard-to-read philosophical text, which I perhaps would not understand. Instead, I got something I was able to read with such ease. Benedict's style is that of a simple, friendly conversation, yet so deep and both philosophically and theologically grounded that it left me impressed and moved.
Benedict starts by explaining physical love, eros, and develops his thoughts to charity. He gives excellent insights what love truly is, and gives advices how to live it. In the second part, he, in his service of Roman Pontiff, gives explanation of Church's charitable work.
The document is an exceptional work about Christian understanding of love(I dare say, work about true meaning of love), which I recommend to Catholics, all Christians and everyone else who wants to learn about Catholic understanding of love.
Quotes:
" His death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. Jn 19:37), we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love”" (12)
"Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first." (18)
The theme of the encyclical was a total success, especially because it was the first for pope Benedict. Love, a basic message and a milestone of Christianity. I expected a long and hard-to-read philosophical text, which I perhaps would not understand. Instead, I got something I was able to read with such ease. Benedict's style is that of a simple, friendly conversation, yet so deep and both philosophically and theologically grounded that it left me impressed and moved.
Benedict starts by explaining physical love, eros, and develops his thoughts to charity. He gives excellent insights what love truly is, and gives advices how to live it. In the second part, he, in his service of Roman Pontiff, gives explanation of Church's charitable work.
The document is an exceptional work about Christian understanding of love(I dare say, work about true meaning of love), which I recommend to Catholics, all Christians and everyone else who wants to learn about Catholic understanding of love.
Quotes:
" His death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. Jn 19:37), we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love”" (12)
"Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first." (18)
July 4, 2014
Considered Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's (or Papa Benny as I like to call him) Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (translated from the Latin "God is love") is an inspiring work about love. As many English speakers know, the word "love" has multiple definitions. What exactly is meant by the word "love?" And how does this relate to God and humanity? In Benedict's encyclical, he describes how the words "agape" and "eros" differ as to how they are translated into English as "love." A "descending, oblative love-agape-would be typically Christian (pg. 24)," Benedict explains. While the word "eros," is considered to be "ascending, possessive, or covetous love...(pg. 24)." Despite the many ways we can translate the word "love," they exist as "a single reality, but with different dimensions... (pg. 27)."
Jesus' death on the Cross is considered an act of love. I am enamored as to how Benedict explains Jesus' death on the Cross as "this is love in its most radical form (pg. 35)."
Papa Benny goes on to explain many more subjects related to love, especially with regards to "loving our neighbor." How are we supposed to love our neighbor if we dislike him/her? Benedict sees loving God and loving our neighbor as one united act: "in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God (pg. 40)." How can the Church provide love for those who are suffering?
Benedict's encyclical is theologically, biblically, and anthropologically deep. Yet unlike many of his very mature works, this one is written for all to comprehend and contemplate. Well worth it, especially Catholics, other Christians, and non-religious alike.
Jesus' death on the Cross is considered an act of love. I am enamored as to how Benedict explains Jesus' death on the Cross as "this is love in its most radical form (pg. 35)."
Papa Benny goes on to explain many more subjects related to love, especially with regards to "loving our neighbor." How are we supposed to love our neighbor if we dislike him/her? Benedict sees loving God and loving our neighbor as one united act: "in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God (pg. 40)." How can the Church provide love for those who are suffering?
Benedict's encyclical is theologically, biblically, and anthropologically deep. Yet unlike many of his very mature works, this one is written for all to comprehend and contemplate. Well worth it, especially Catholics, other Christians, and non-religious alike.
March 30, 2017
Pope Benny is an intellectual giant. I expected this to be a scholarly approach to God that would be possibly boring but informative; I was wrong.
He writes with a lyrical beauty. Part of this was written (or taken) from Pope JPII so maybe those were his pieces, but at times you can feel the love pouring from the writer's pen onto the page. The words come from a complete belief in the heart, not an understanding in the mind. You aren't left with a plethora of philosophical questions to ponder; you are left with a searching in your heart for if you do enough for others.
None of this is to say that the genius isn't there. Granted, this does not go deep into logic. If you are looking for more of that I would suggest another place. This is a short read that does a great job of explaining the impact of love on our world and ourselves. It speaks of pitfalls many experience or mistakes they make when trying to love.
I would recommend this to any Catholic (obviously, it was written to us) and anyone curious about how Catholics view love. It is not a "We are so awesome because we are Catholic," but rather a "We are called to a higher degree than we thought possible because we are loved."
I will leave it with one excerpt that I found especially insightful, "...we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world."
He writes with a lyrical beauty. Part of this was written (or taken) from Pope JPII so maybe those were his pieces, but at times you can feel the love pouring from the writer's pen onto the page. The words come from a complete belief in the heart, not an understanding in the mind. You aren't left with a plethora of philosophical questions to ponder; you are left with a searching in your heart for if you do enough for others.
None of this is to say that the genius isn't there. Granted, this does not go deep into logic. If you are looking for more of that I would suggest another place. This is a short read that does a great job of explaining the impact of love on our world and ourselves. It speaks of pitfalls many experience or mistakes they make when trying to love.
I would recommend this to any Catholic (obviously, it was written to us) and anyone curious about how Catholics view love. It is not a "We are so awesome because we are Catholic," but rather a "We are called to a higher degree than we thought possible because we are loved."
I will leave it with one excerpt that I found especially insightful, "...we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world."
August 18, 2019
This was a hard nut to crack, with sometimes very dark wording and constant overlaps. The references to the recent financial crisis and to the phenomenon of globalization are interesting, but Benedict adds little to the social encyclicals of his predecessors. It is striking that again only ecclesiastical sources are cited (in contrast to his first encyclicals), and that Benedict uses the social theme to express his opinion on themes that hardly have anything to do with it. But once in a while there are gems of insights and formulations.
February 4, 2015
Amazing how I let this one slip through the cracks of life. I had never read it as whole so far
The clarity with which Pope Benedict XVI speaks of theology is always impressive. What irks me in C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves (which I consider a great book) are fully explained and explored in Deus Caritas Est. Considering I gave five stars to the former I think this one deserves six stars :)
The clarity with which Pope Benedict XVI speaks of theology is always impressive. What irks me in C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves (which I consider a great book) are fully explained and explored in Deus Caritas Est. Considering I gave five stars to the former I think this one deserves six stars :)
February 16, 2017
Pope Benedict's first encyclical is a fantastic reflection on love. There is a lot of great content packed into this brief work and there is much to affirm here for any Christian. What I most appreciated is that Benedict strips away the cute stories and goofiness so prevalent in much contemporary Christian literature. In other words, he says more in 50 pages than many authors can say in 200 or 300. Highly highly recommended.
September 7, 2015
One of the best book the describe the true meaning of Love.... Pope Benedict XVI encyclical Deus Caritas Est, describes the different types of love... How to Love God above all things and how to love our neighbors... And Justice can only be achieved is there is Love.... A must read encyclical..
Read
November 14, 2018Filled with wisdom and clear thinking. Especially interesting to me was its treatment of governmental systems and charitable work.
Edifying, relevant, and definitely worth the short time invested to read or listen.
Edifying, relevant, and definitely worth the short time invested to read or listen.
August 17, 2014
I love it, but it isn't my favorite of his writings. As with all PBXVI writings, it requires reading more than once to catch everything....brilliant...
September 10, 2014
любов, пише бенедикт, ніколи не буває закінчена чи завершена: вона весь час розвивається, зріє й саме так залишається вірною собі.
December 23, 2017
God is love. We love because he first loved us in the person of Jesus who gave himself for our sins.
January 22, 2017
Unity of all kinds of love.
Word is misused.
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us
Omnia vincit amor” says Virgil in the Bucolics—love conquers all
it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves
Love now becomes concern and care for the other
Yet eros and agape— ascending love and descending love—can never be completely separated. The more the two, in their different aspects, find a proper unity in the one reality of love, the more the true nature of love in general is realized. Even if eros is at first mainly covetous and ascending, a fascination for the great promise of happiness, in drawing near to the other, it is less and less concerned with itself, increasingly seeks the happiness of the other, is concerned more and more with the beloved, bestows itself and wants to “be there for” the other. The element of agape thus enters into this love, for otherwise eros is impoverished and even loses its own nature. On the other hand, man cannot live by oblative, descending love alone. He cannot always give, he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf. Jn 19:34).
But this union is no mere fusion, a sinking in the nameless ocean of the Divine; it is a unity which creates love, a unity in which both God and man remain themselves and yet become fully one. As Saint Paul says: “He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Cor 6:17)
“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” driven by nature to seek in another the part that can make him whole, the idea that only in communion with the opposite sex can he become “complete”. The biblical account thus concludes with a prophecy about Adam: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh”
His death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. 19:37), we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). It is there that this truth can be contemplated. It is from there that our definition of love must begin. In this contemplation the Christian discovers the path along which his life and love must move.
meant standing in God's presence, but now it becomes union with God. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17)
love becomes the criterion for the definitive decision about a human life's worth or lack thereof. Jesus identifies himself with those in need, with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). Love of God and love of neighbour have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God.
Anyone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20) Yet, God is visible in his words in Jesus in love. Sentiment and passion are not the fullness of love just the spark of it. We do not want to be ourselfs but God's.
Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).
“If you see charity, you see the Trinity”, wrote Saint Augustine.
“All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-5). In these words, Saint Luke provides a kind of definition of the Church, whose constitutive elements include fidelity to the “teaching of the Apostles”, “communion” (koinonia), “the breaking of the bread” and “prayer” (cf. Acts 2:42). The element of “communion” (koinonia) is not initially defined, but appears concretely in the verses quoted above: it consists in the fact that believers hold all things in common and that among them, there is no longer any distinction between rich and poor (cf. also Acts 4:32-37). As the Church grew, this radical form of material communion could not in fact be preserved. But its essential core remained: within the community of believers there can never be room for a poverty that denies anyone what is needed for a dignified life. Charity is needed and it is factor of Church. The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). Faith purifies reason so you can be just. Church is there to help not to become state onatead but to offer purification of moral power. We should unite.
disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike.
With regard to the personnel who carry out the Church's charitable activity on the practical level, the essential has already been said: they must not be inspired by ideologies aimed at improving the world, but should rather be guided by the faith which works through love (cf. Gal 5:6). Consequently, more than anything, they must be persons moved by Christ's love, persons whose hearts Christ has conquered with his love, awakening within them a love of neighbour. The criterion inspiring their activity should be Saint Paul's statement in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: “the love of Christ urges us on” (5:14). The consciousness that, in Christ, God has given himself for us, even unto death, must inspire us to live no longer for ourselves but for him, and, with him, for others. Whoever loves Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be increasingly the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ. The personnel of every Catholic charitable organization want to work with the Church and therefore with the Bishop, so that the love of God can spread throughout the world. By their sharing in the Church's practice of love, they wish to be witnesses of God and of Christ, and they wish for this very reason freely to do good to all.
Practical activity will always be insufficient, unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished by an encounter with Christ. My deep personal sharing in the needs and sufferings of others becomes a sharing of my very self with them: if my gift is not to prove a source of humiliation, I must give to others not only something that is my own, but my very self; I must be personally present in my gift.
Do what you can leave the rest for the Lord.
If we pray we are not losing the time we are getting it.
Certainly Job could complain before God about the presence of incomprehensible and apparently unjustified suffering in the world. In his pain he cried out: “Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! ... I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? ... Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me” (23:3, 5-6, 15-16). Often we cannot understand why God refrains from intervening. Yet he does not prevent us from crying out, like Jesus on the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). We should continue asking this question in prayerful dialogue before his face: “Lord, holy and true, how long will it be?” (Rev 6:10). It is Saint Augustine who gives us faith's answer to our sufferings: “Si comprehendis, non est Deus”—”if you understand him, he is not God.” [35] Our protest is not meant to challenge God, or to suggest that error, weakness or indifference can be found in him. For the believer, it is impossible to imagine that God is powerless or that “perhaps he is asleep” (cf. 1 Kg 18:27). Instead, our crying out is, as it was for Jesus on the Cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power. Even in their bewilderment and failure to understand the world around them, Christians continue to believe in the “goodness and loving kindness of God” (Tit 3:4). Immersed like everyone else in the dramatic complexity of historical events, they remain unshakably certain that God is our Father and loves us, even when his silence remains incomprehensible.
The saints are the true bearers of light
Mary, mother of all.
Word is misused.
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us
Omnia vincit amor” says Virgil in the Bucolics—love conquers all
it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves
Love now becomes concern and care for the other
Yet eros and agape— ascending love and descending love—can never be completely separated. The more the two, in their different aspects, find a proper unity in the one reality of love, the more the true nature of love in general is realized. Even if eros is at first mainly covetous and ascending, a fascination for the great promise of happiness, in drawing near to the other, it is less and less concerned with itself, increasingly seeks the happiness of the other, is concerned more and more with the beloved, bestows itself and wants to “be there for” the other. The element of agape thus enters into this love, for otherwise eros is impoverished and even loses its own nature. On the other hand, man cannot live by oblative, descending love alone. He cannot always give, he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf. Jn 19:34).
But this union is no mere fusion, a sinking in the nameless ocean of the Divine; it is a unity which creates love, a unity in which both God and man remain themselves and yet become fully one. As Saint Paul says: “He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Cor 6:17)
“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” driven by nature to seek in another the part that can make him whole, the idea that only in communion with the opposite sex can he become “complete”. The biblical account thus concludes with a prophecy about Adam: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh”
His death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. 19:37), we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). It is there that this truth can be contemplated. It is from there that our definition of love must begin. In this contemplation the Christian discovers the path along which his life and love must move.
meant standing in God's presence, but now it becomes union with God. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17)
love becomes the criterion for the definitive decision about a human life's worth or lack thereof. Jesus identifies himself with those in need, with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). Love of God and love of neighbour have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God.
Anyone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20) Yet, God is visible in his words in Jesus in love. Sentiment and passion are not the fullness of love just the spark of it. We do not want to be ourselfs but God's.
Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).
“If you see charity, you see the Trinity”, wrote Saint Augustine.
“All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-5). In these words, Saint Luke provides a kind of definition of the Church, whose constitutive elements include fidelity to the “teaching of the Apostles”, “communion” (koinonia), “the breaking of the bread” and “prayer” (cf. Acts 2:42). The element of “communion” (koinonia) is not initially defined, but appears concretely in the verses quoted above: it consists in the fact that believers hold all things in common and that among them, there is no longer any distinction between rich and poor (cf. also Acts 4:32-37). As the Church grew, this radical form of material communion could not in fact be preserved. But its essential core remained: within the community of believers there can never be room for a poverty that denies anyone what is needed for a dignified life. Charity is needed and it is factor of Church. The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). Faith purifies reason so you can be just. Church is there to help not to become state onatead but to offer purification of moral power. We should unite.
disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike.
With regard to the personnel who carry out the Church's charitable activity on the practical level, the essential has already been said: they must not be inspired by ideologies aimed at improving the world, but should rather be guided by the faith which works through love (cf. Gal 5:6). Consequently, more than anything, they must be persons moved by Christ's love, persons whose hearts Christ has conquered with his love, awakening within them a love of neighbour. The criterion inspiring their activity should be Saint Paul's statement in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: “the love of Christ urges us on” (5:14). The consciousness that, in Christ, God has given himself for us, even unto death, must inspire us to live no longer for ourselves but for him, and, with him, for others. Whoever loves Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be increasingly the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ. The personnel of every Catholic charitable organization want to work with the Church and therefore with the Bishop, so that the love of God can spread throughout the world. By their sharing in the Church's practice of love, they wish to be witnesses of God and of Christ, and they wish for this very reason freely to do good to all.
Practical activity will always be insufficient, unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished by an encounter with Christ. My deep personal sharing in the needs and sufferings of others becomes a sharing of my very self with them: if my gift is not to prove a source of humiliation, I must give to others not only something that is my own, but my very self; I must be personally present in my gift.
Do what you can leave the rest for the Lord.
If we pray we are not losing the time we are getting it.
Certainly Job could complain before God about the presence of incomprehensible and apparently unjustified suffering in the world. In his pain he cried out: “Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! ... I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? ... Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me” (23:3, 5-6, 15-16). Often we cannot understand why God refrains from intervening. Yet he does not prevent us from crying out, like Jesus on the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). We should continue asking this question in prayerful dialogue before his face: “Lord, holy and true, how long will it be?” (Rev 6:10). It is Saint Augustine who gives us faith's answer to our sufferings: “Si comprehendis, non est Deus”—”if you understand him, he is not God.” [35] Our protest is not meant to challenge God, or to suggest that error, weakness or indifference can be found in him. For the believer, it is impossible to imagine that God is powerless or that “perhaps he is asleep” (cf. 1 Kg 18:27). Instead, our crying out is, as it was for Jesus on the Cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power. Even in their bewilderment and failure to understand the world around them, Christians continue to believe in the “goodness and loving kindness of God” (Tit 3:4). Immersed like everyone else in the dramatic complexity of historical events, they remain unshakably certain that God is our Father and loves us, even when his silence remains incomprehensible.
The saints are the true bearers of light
Mary, mother of all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2023
“In the gradual unfolding of this encounter [with God], it is clearly revealed that love is not merely a sentiment. Sentiments come and go. A sentiment can be a marvelous first spark, but it is not the fullness of love… It is characteristic of mature love that it calls into play all man’s potentialities; it engages the whole man… Acknowledgement of the living God is one path toward love, and the “yes” of our will to his will unites our intellect, will, and sentiments in the all-embracing act of love. But this process is always open-ended; love is never “finished” and complete; throughout life, it changes and matures, and thus remains faithful to itself…. The love story between God and man consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus our will and God’s will increasingly coincide: God’s will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself.”
“Love embraces the whole of existence in each of its dimensions, including the dimension of time. It could hardly be otherwise, since its promise looks toward its definitive goal: love looks to the eternal.”
“Love embraces the whole of existence in each of its dimensions, including the dimension of time. It could hardly be otherwise, since its promise looks toward its definitive goal: love looks to the eternal.”
Read
July 15, 2024I was recommended to read this by a local priest after I asked him a lot of questions about love. I must say, as with many of the nouvelle theologie theologians, I found it personally difficult to follow the argument. However, I know that more poetic prose is one of the features of that school. I don’t know if I came out of this encyclical with a clearer understanding of love, but definitely a more substantial understanding of it. I’m going to have to go back though and really dwell on some of these paragraphs, as some of them are beautiful and/or powerful to read — I would recommend 8, 11, 17-18, 26, and 37-38 to anyone, among others.
I don’t really have much to say about the content or argument. I liked his treatment of eros and agape in the first part, and his insistence on prayer as a fundamental wellspring for any kind of structured charitable activity.
Super short but a worthwhile read. Maybe I’ll appreciate it more if I get less analytic in the future.
“‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him’ (1 John 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny.” (1)
I don’t really have much to say about the content or argument. I liked his treatment of eros and agape in the first part, and his insistence on prayer as a fundamental wellspring for any kind of structured charitable activity.
Super short but a worthwhile read. Maybe I’ll appreciate it more if I get less analytic in the future.
“‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him’ (1 John 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny.” (1)
September 12, 2022
Pope-Emeritus Benedict the XVI masterfully addresses love from two perspectives. In the first half of this encyclical, his holiness engages in an abstract and theological discussion of what love, particularly in the relationship between eros and agape. Admittedly, this was the part I found to be more engaging. The latter half dealt with the practical reality of how the Church needs to engage in Her essential mission of charity.
A great quick read. Will likely revisit it down the road, especially as someone who aspires to an instrument of the LORD's love as it flows from His Church.
A great quick read. Will likely revisit it down the road, especially as someone who aspires to an instrument of the LORD's love as it flows from His Church.
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