Look inside of the God Is Love course material

Transcription

Opening Prayer
Beloved, let us love one another;
for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.
He who does not love does not know God;
for God is love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us,
that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us
and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also ought to love one another.
No man has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 JOHN 4:7–12
Chapter
One
A STUDY GUIDE FOR THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER
OF POPE BENEDICT XVI
GOD IS LOVE (DEUS CARITAS EST)
PROLOGUE
Deus Caritas Est [Dey-oos Kah-ri-tahs Est], which means God Is Love, is the title of the first
encyclical letter written by Pope Benedict XVI. Promulgated on Christmas Day, December
25, 2005, it had been awaited with much anticipation. Encyclicals are important
documents of the Church, generally used to address significant issues. First encyclicals
have a special importance; they set the tone for the new pontificate, usually indicating
the principal direction that the pope intends to take.
Some people were surprised that the Holy Father chose love as the theme for his first
encyclical, primarily because he had been the target of considerable negative media
coverage in the years preceding his election. Prior to being elected pope on April 19,
2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had spent the previous twenty-three years as the prefect
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
This post had earned him many unflattering nicknames, and during his time in office he
had sparked controversy on more than one occasion. He spoke out against homosexuality,
denounced rock music as “the vehicle of anti-religion,” and had written intensely against the
rise of liberation theology in Latin America. In the words of BBC News correspondent, Peter
Gould: “He had a reputation for stifling dissent.”1
However, those who knew him better affirmed that “his principal proclamation is that
unless we come to know God as the one who loves us, we fail to grasp what is at the heart
of the Christian faith.”2 Thus, from this perspective, most of us would agree that, Deus
Caritas Est is the logical expression of the authentic spirituality of this gentle, somewhat
shy man whom God had chosen as the successor to the chair of Saint Peter. When asked
why he chose love as the theme of his encyclical, Pope Benedict replied:
liberation theology: A school of thought
ID YOU KNOW?
The CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH is
a branch of the Vatican instituted as a result of the Holy Inquisition, founded in 1542 by
Pope Paul III. Its duty was to defend the Church from heresy. Today, “the duty proper to the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to promote and safeguard the doctrine of the faith
and morals throughout the Catholic world.”
that suggests that Gospel teachings demand
that the Church concentrate its efforts on
liberating the people of the world from poverty
and oppression. It is a threat to the faith of the
Church because of its adoption of Marxist ideas.
—Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Instruction on Certain Aspects of the “Theology
of Liberation”
1 Peter Gould, BBC News, 20 April 2005 [news service on-line]; available from http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4463397.stm; Internet; accessed 5 December 2008.
2 Fr. Raymond J. De Souza, “A Church devoted to love and charity,” National Post (Canada), 26 January 2006 [newspaper on-line];
available from www.catholiceducation.org/articles/printarticle.html?page=fm0055; Internet; accessed 5 December 2008.
Chapter One • 1 • God Is Love
T
oday the word “love” is so tarnished, so spoiled and so abused, that one is almost
afraid to pronounce it with one’s lips. And yet it is a primordial word, expression of
the primordial reality; we cannot simply abandon it, we must take it up again, purify
it and give back to it its original splendor so that it might illuminate our life and lead
it on the right path. This awareness led me to choose love as the theme of my first
encyclical. . . .
I wished to underline the centrality of faith in God, in that God who has assumed a
human face and a human heart. Faith is not a theory that one can take up or lay aside.
It is something very concrete: It is the criterion that decides our lifestyle. In an age in
which hostility and greed have become superpowers, an age in which we witness the
abuse of religion to the point of culminating in hatred, neutral rationality on its own is
unable to protect us.We are in need of the living God who has loved us unto death.3
Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was born at 4:30 a.m. on Holy Saturday, April 16, 1927 in
Marktl Am Inn. He was the third child and second son of Josef and Maria (Rieger)
Ratzinger. Recalling the circumstances of his birth, he tells this story:
T
he fact that my day of birth was the last day of Holy Week and the eve of Easter
has always been noted in our family history. This was connected with the fact
that I was baptized immediately on the morning of the day I was born with the water
that had just been blessed. (At that time the solemn Easter Vigil was celebrated on the
morning of Holy Saturday.) To be the first person baptized with the new water was
seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for
having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter mystery, since this could only be
a sign of blessing.4
Joseph’s deep affection for his homeland and the loving, faith-filled environment that he
experienced within his family provided him with a solid foundation on which to build his
life. He has always maintained a close and loving relationship with his parents and with
his older siblings, Maria and Georg; they have provided him with unconditional love and
support throughout his life.
ID YOU KNOW?
JOSEF RATZINGER, SR. (1877–1959) came from a village in lower
Bavaria called Rickering. “The Pope described him as ‘a very upright and also a very
strict man,’ ‘markedly rationalistic and deliberate,’ and yet a ‘very religious man.’” His
wife, MARIA (RIEGER) RATZINGER was born in the village of Rimsting. The
daughter of a baker, she was the oldest of eight children. She learned a trade as
a professional cook. . . . The Pope has described her as a practical, talented, “very
warmhearted” woman, with “great inner strength” and “a very warm and heartfelt
piety.”
—Brennan Pursell, Benedict of Bavaria: An Intimate Portrait of the Pope and His
Homeland
homeland: It is not possible to truly understand the
character of Pope Benedict XVI without considering his love
for his birthplace, Bavaria. Pope Benedict speaks poetically
of his memories of his childhood growing up in Bavaria
and has incorporated several significant Bavarian symbols
into his coat of arms: the scallop shell (an emblem that is
incorporated in the coat of arms of the ancient Monastery
of Schotten near Regensburg in Bavaria), a Moor’s head (the
ancient emblem of the Diocese of Freising), and a brown bear
(which is tied to an ancient tradition about the first Bishop
of Freising, Saint Corbinian). These symbols are profoundly
connected to the ideals, traditions, and principles that inspire
our pope.
3 Pope Benedict XVI’s Address on Forthcoming Encyclical “I Wished to Show the Humanity of Faith,” Zenit, 23 January 2006
[news service on-line]; available from www.zenit.org/article-15085?l=english; Internet; accessed 5 December 2008.
4 Joseph Ratzinger, Milestones: Memoirs 1927–1977, trans. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis (Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 1998), 8.
For example, in the summer of 1950, Joseph was asked to write a dissertation for an open
competition; the winner was to be given the opportunity to go on to doctoral studies. It
was an exciting prospect that came at a difficult time, the time of his final preparation for
priestly ordination. Despite this, he has fond memories of those days:
T
he seriousness of this preparation [for the priestly ministry] demanded the whole
person, without any reservation, and yet I had to try to combine it with the writing
of my theme. . . . My brother, who was with me on the road to the priesthood, did
everything possible to relieve me of all practical tasks relating to our preparation
for priestly ordination and our first Mass. My sister, who at this time was working
as a secretary in a legal firm, used her free time to produce in exemplary fashion a
clean copy of the manuscript, and so I was able to hand in my work by the required
deadline.5
When Joseph received his doctorate of theology in July, 1953, it was an especially joyous
occasion for his father and mother.6 They were always a source of strength and support
for him, and when their advancing age dictated that they move into his house in the fall
of 1955, he regarded their presence as a gift and blessing. Looking back on that time,
he recalls: “Once again I had been granted the possibility of living with my dear parents,
and in their gentle company I had found the sense of shelter that was precisely what I so
needed during the turbulent events I had to undergo.”7
From 1962 to 1966, Joseph was a popular lecturer at the University of Münster. In his
position as chair in dogmatic theology, he filled the lecture hall to capacity week after
week. In his biography on Pope Benedict XVI, Stefan Kempis reflects:
W
hat was his secret? It was not a matter of delivery. Although his light tenor voice
was easily heard throughout the auditorium, he rarely made eye contact with
his students, preferring instead to lecture from a point high up in the back corner of
the room. He never developed a repertoire of dramatic gesticulations. The answer to
his popularity lay in his lectures and speeches, in the clarity of the writing and quality
of mind that underlay them. In order to discipline his thought, which at times could
become abstruse, he would read his lectures beforehand to his sister, who was well
endowed with Ratzinger intelligence even if she had never undergone a university
education. If Maria said that something was too dense or unclear or otherwise
incomprehensible, he would rework it. It was a great pleasure for him if, while reading
to her in the kitchen, she slowed the pace of her labor and let the cooking spoon slip
from her hand. Then he knew his message had touched her heart.8
theology: From two Greek words, theos (god)
ID YOU KNOW?
PRIESTLY ORDINATION: Joseph Ratzinger was ordained a priest by Cardinal
Faulhaber in the cathedral at Freising on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1951.
and logos (discourse). Theology is the study
of the nature of God, His attributes, and His
relation to the universe.
5 Ibid., 99.
6 See ibid., 102.
7 Ibid., 114.
8 Brennan Pursell, Benedict of Bavaria: An Intimate Portrait of the Pope and His Homeland, 88, quoting Stefan V. Kempis, Benedetto:
die Biografie (Leipzig: St. Benno-Verlag, 2006), 169.
Having been nurtured in an atmosphere of love—the love of God and the love of his
family—it is natural that Joseph desired to share that experience of love with others.
There are many stories of his kindness and generosity. Brennan Pursell, in his book
Benedict of Bavaria, writes:
E
veryone says that Ratzinger is a wonderful person. Personally very humble,
thoroughly compassionate and very affable. He has a pronounced feeling for
beauty in our world, beauty in art and in nature. He is not at all pedantic and certainly
not interested in power. On the contrary, he loves humanity. And he is very devout,
convincingly and contagiously devout.9
When asked which of Benedict XVI’s qualities he most admires, Father Juan Pablo
Ledesma, Dean of Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Apostolorum in Rome, replied:
T
here are so many—perhaps what impresses me most is his simplicity and depth.
I am ever more fascinated by his first words as Pope: “Laborer in the vineyard of
the Lord . . . ineffective instrument.” These words evoke the Rule of St. Benedict, the
sixth degree of humility, that in which the monk is happy with the poorest and most
ordinary things, and considers himself a useless and unworthy laborer in regard to all
that obedience imposes on him.
I am also impressed by the profound, simple and spontaneous expressions of his very
personal love for Jesus Christ. It is a love that is manifested in his words and gestures
and, above all, in his way of celebrating the Eucharist. Everything, in his person and
ministry, is centered on Jesus Christ.
I am also attracted by the way the Pope greets each person. He pauses, without hurry,
knows how to listen, encourage and smile. It is easy to see Christ’s goodness in his look
and in his way of accepting his neighbor. I am impressed to see the Pope playing the
piano, greeting the greats of the world or explaining to children how Jesus is present in
the Eucharist, using the example of electricity or a microphone, to show how invisible
things are the most profound and important.10
Pope Benedict once said: “I have become a beast of burden, and precisely because of this,
I am with you.”11 We acknowledge and respect the pope as our Holy Father, yet at the
same time we see that he is one of us, striving to live a life of humility and love according
to the words and example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
He lives his life in accordance with the teachings of faith, a faith that enjoins: “Whoever
would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you
must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to
give his life as a ransom for many.”12
9 Pursell, Benedict of Bavaria, 107, quoting Karl Birkenseer, “Hier bin ich wirklich daheim”: Papst Benedikt XVI. Und das Bistum
Regensburg (Regensburg: Pustet, 2005), 37.
10 Father Juan Pablo Ledesma, L.C., “A Well-Rounded Pope: Interview on Benedict XVI’s Qualities and Fundamental Ideas,”
interview by Gisèle Plantec, Zenit, 11 June 2008 [news service on-line]; available from www.zenit.org/article-22870?l=english;
Internet; accessed 5 December 2008.
11 Ibid. Pope Benedict was quoting from a commentary by St. Augustine on the text of Ps 73:22, which reads, “I was stupid and
ignorant, I was like a beast toward thee.”
��Mt 20:26–28.
Discussion Questions:
1. Many of you may be more familiar with Pope John Paul II, as he had a nearly twenty seven
year long pontificate. Before this study, what did you know about Pope Benedict XVI? Did
anything in this prologue surprise you?
2. In the encyclical letter, The Redeemer of Man (Redemptor Hominis), Pope John Paul II
agrees with Pope Benedict XVI in that,
. . . Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself,
his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does
not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This . . . is
why Christ the Redeemer “fully reveals man to himself.”13
Discuss the role of love in the development of the human person. What are some of the
different ways that we experience love in our lives?
Before turning to our study of Pope Benedict’s letter, let us take a moment for a brief
overview of its content. If you turn to the index, you will see that the encyclical is divided
into two main sections. After a brief introduction, Part I, entitled “The Unity of Love in
Creation and in Salvation History,” will focus our attention on the philosophical ideas
about the nature of love.
There are many different ways that we express love in the world; for example, there
is the paternal/maternal love that characterizes relationships between parents and
their children, the platonic love that exists between friends, and the romantic love that
characterizes the intimate relationships between men and women. As we will see, Pope
Benedict reflects on the nature of these differing “loves,” examines the nature of God’s
love for us, and considers the intrinsic link between Divine and human love.
In Part II, “The Practice of Love by the Church as a ‘Community of Love,’” we will focus
on “love in action.” We will study the Trinity as the model for human love, charity as
a responsibility of the Church, the interrelationship between justice and love, and the
distinguishing characteristics of the charitable actions of the Church. The pope concludes
his encyclical by encouraging us with examples of the saints and above all, the Blessed
Virgin Mary. These models of holiness continue to be an inspiration to us and give us
hope that we too, with the help of God’s grace, can give witness to His love in the world.
After reflecting on the main points in each chapter, we will finish with stories drawn from
everyday life, entitled “Living the Gospel of Love.” These will help illustrate the points that
we have studied and will encourage us to go deeper in our understanding. Let us now
turn to the opening page of Pope Benedict’s letter.
��
Pope John Paul II, The Redeemer of Man (Redemptor Hominis), 10; available from http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/
encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_04031979_redemptor-hominis_en.html; Internet; accessed 5 December 2008.
INTRODUCTION
READ ARTICLE 1
“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”14 These
opening words of Deus Caritas Est express a truth which in a certain way tells us
everything we need to know about God, for everything that God is and everything that
He does is love.
Pope Benedict tells us that our confidence in this image of God at the same time brings
us to a deeper understanding about ourselves, for “God created man in his own image . . .
male and female he created them.”15 God is love, and being created in His image means
that we too, as women, have been created and called to be love for and to others.
We are capable of loving others because God first loved us,16 and we have come to believe
in His love for us not because of our own intelligence or by virtue of our own efforts, but
only through faith. This gift of faith is rooted in a personal experience of Jesus Christ, an
encounter with God that changes our lives. Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher to
the Papal Household, writes:
T
his is the most beautiful moment of any creature’s life: to know that one is loved,
personally, by God, to feel oneself lifted to the bosom of the Trinity and to find
oneself in the flood of love that flows between Father and Son, enfolded in their love,
sharing their passionate love for the world.17
When we come to understand how deeply we are loved by God, it changes us. It is an
experience that activates our wills and transforms our hearts; it gives our lives “a new
horizon and a decisive direction.”18 Having come to know and experience God in this
way, we are able to say that “we know and believe the love God has for us.”19 This is what
Pope Benedict refers to as the “fundamental decision” of our lives: a commitment of love
which is our response to the love of our heavenly Father.20
God proves His love for us by dying on the Cross for our sake, even though we were still
sinners.21 Pope Benedict explains: “It belongs to God’s nature to love what he has created;
so it belongs to his nature to bind himself and, in doing so, to go all the way to the Cross.”22
[Women] are called to bear witness to the meaning of genuine love, of that gift of self and of that
acceptance of others which are present in a special way in the relationship of husband and wife, but
which ought also to be at the heart of every other interpersonal relationship.
POPE JOHN PAUL II, THE GOSPEL OF LIFE (EVANGELIUM VITAE)
��1 Jn 4:16.
��Gen 1:27.
16 See 1 Jn 4:19.
17 Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap., The Mystery of Pentecost, trans. Glen S. Davis (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001);
quoted in Magnificat, May, 2008, 159.
18 Pope Benedict XVI, God Is Love (Deus Caritas Est) [hereinafter “DCE”], 1.
19 1 Jn 4:16.
20 See DCE, 1.
21 See Rom 5:8.
22 Pope Benedict XVI, Many Religions—One Covenant: Israel, the Church and the World, trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 1999), 73–74. Quoted in Benedictus, ed. Rev. Peter John Cameron, O.P. (Yonkers, NY: Ignatius Press, 2006), 325.
Wanting to repair the wounds caused by our sin, God takes the initiative, becomes man,
and dies for our sins in order to save us from death. Reflecting on this great mystery, Pope
John Paul II ponders: “How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he ‘gained
so great a Redeemer,’ and if God ‘gave his only Son’ in order that man ‘should not perish
but have eternal life.’”23
In the Old Testament, love for God was expressed as a commandment: “Hear, O Israel . . .
you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your might.”24 Old Testament law addressed the exterior actions of the people of
Israel, but it could not govern their hearts; it did not have the power to transform them
interiorly.
It was through Jesus’ Precious Blood, which He shed for us on the Cross at Calvary, that
the old law was fulfilled and brought to perfection.25 This gave way to the new covenant,
the new law of love: love for God and love for neighbor.26
Thus, by faith and grace we can be interiorly transformed through the gift of the Holy
Spirit. Then it is no longer “we” who live, but Christ who lives in us.27 It is through His eyes
that we are able to see our neighbor in a new light. Pope Benedict writes: “The love of God
that is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit includes the love of neighbor. . . . Love of
neighbor is the touchstone of the love of God.”28
How can we understand this Divine gift of love? By definition love is something
unmerited, something which escapes our understanding. Hans Urs von Balthasar
explains: “I can ‘understand’ a love that has been given to me only as a miracle.”29 He
continues:
T
he moment I claim to have understood the love that another person has for me, i.e.,
either explaining it on the basis of the laws of human nature or considering myself
entitled to it because of my inherent qualities, I have once and for all undermined and
falsified that love and thereby cut off the possibility of reciprocation. Genuine love is
always inconceivable, and only thus is it a gift.30
This, then, is the love that God models for us and calls us to share: a Divine “gift” of love
that is infinite, gratuitous, and completely beyond the realm of human reason.
Man comes in the most profound sense to himself, not through what he does, but through what
he accepts. He must wait for the gift of love, and love can only be received as a gift. It cannot be
“made” on one’s own, without anyone else; one must wait for it, let it be given to one. And one
cannot become wholly man in any other way than by being loved, by letting oneself be loved.
JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER, INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIANITY
23 Pope John Paul II, The Redeemer of Man (Redemptor Hominis). Quotation from Jn 3:16.
24 Dt 6:4–5.
25 See Mt 5:17.
26 See Lev 19:18, Jer 31:33, Heb 8:10, 10:16.
27 See Gal 2:20.
28 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Co-Workers of the Truth, ed. Sister Irene Grassl, trans. Sister Mary Frances McCarthy, S.N.D. and
Reverend Lothar Krauth (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), 170. From Deutsche Tagespost, April 8, 1986.
29 Hans Urs von Balthasar, Love Alone is Credible, trans. D. C. Schindler (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 52.
30 Ibid.
3. What is your image of God? How would you describe Him? Do you see God as an
authoritative figure, someone who is judgmental, a kind of supernatural law enforcer? Or do
you see Him as a compassionate Father, someone who is tender and merciful, a kind and
gentle lover of souls?
4. How did you first come to know and love God? How has your experience of God’s love
transformed your life?
5. The German philosopher Josef Pieper observed that “loving someone or something
means finding him or it probus, the Latin word for ‘good.’”31 Yet in reality, not everything
(or every person) that we love is good. Have you ever fallen in love with someone who (or
loved something that) was not good for you? Why does this happen? How can we explain
this phenomenon in light of the example of love that God models for us? Discuss the
relationship between love and goodness.
PART ONE – THE UNITY OF LOVE IN CREATION AND IN SALVATION HISTORY
A PROBLEM OF LANGUAGE; “EROS” AND “AGAPE”—DIFFERENCE AND UNITY
READ ARTICLES 2 AND 3
The word love is used today in many different contexts; it can refer to everything from
casual friendship and warm affection to relationships that are characterized by a deep
and profound mutual commitment. For most of us, our first experience of love occurs
within the sheltering confines of our families, in the maternal/paternal love that our
parents lavish on us, and in the love and respect that we give in return.
Nevertheless, we are not meant to rest within the secure shelter of our families forever.
It is part of the nature of love that we desire to go beyond the boundaries of the place
that has nurtured us, to transcend the comfortable inclination to stay within ourselves.32
This longing to “go out,” this yearning to share the gift of love that we have received, is a
reflection of God’s all-embracing love. God did not need to create us, yet out of His sheer
goodness and generosity, He wanted to bring us into being so that we could share in His
own eternal exchange of love.
The ancient Greek philosophers played a pivotal role in the development of our
understanding of the nature of love. There are three basic kinds of love in the
Christian tradition: friendship love, known by its Greek name, philia [feel-ee-ah];
the human passion of love, known by its Greek name, eros [err-os]; and Divine
love, charity (from the Latin caritas), also known by its Greek name, agape [agah-pay].
31 Josef Pieper, Faith, Hope, Love (original edition Über den Glauben, Munich: Kösel-Verlag GmbH & Co., 1962; English edition:
Belief and Faith: A Philosophical Tract, trans. Richard and Clara Winston, New York: Random House, Inc., 1963; reprint, Ignatius
Press: San Francisco, 1997), 163–164.
32 See Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God and the World, trans. Henry Taylor (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002), 188.
The first type of love, philia (friendship), is the outgrowth of our natural human desire for
communion. It inspires us, as we mature, to gradually widen our circle of love to include
extended family members and friends. Josef Pieper describes philia as “fellow feeling,
the solidarity among human beings, and not only of friends but also of spouses, fellow
countrymen and people in general.”33 It is a virtuous love, characterized by steadfast
loyalty, deep affection, and mutual trust. In the Endow study, Discover Your Dignity, Part
II, we read:
T
his kind of friendship means helping each other grow in virtue and communicating
to each other that we are lovable. It means taking the time to really know one
another for who we are and looking beyond each other’s shortcomings to what we can
ultimately become. Essentially, this kind of friendship helps us to see ourselves as we
are and gives us an insight into how God loves us. “I have called you friends.”34
What is often referred to today as romantic love was called eros by the ancient Greeks. It
is “that love between man and woman which is neither planned nor willed, but somehow
imposes itself upon human beings.”35 In his Theology of the Body, Pope John Paul II
writes:
A
ccording to Plato, eros represents the inner power that draws man toward all that
is good, true, and beautiful. This “attraction” indicates, in this case, the intensity
of a subjective act of the human spirit. By contrast, in the common meaning—as also
in literature—this “attraction” seems to be above all of a sensual nature. It arouses a
reciprocal tendency in both the man and the woman to draw near to each other, to the
union of their bodies, the union about which Genesis 2:24 speaks.36
Although at times eros is regarded in a negative light, as we continue our study of Deus
Caritas Est, we will see that Pope Benedict purifies this lower form of love (eros) of its
negative meaning, integrating it with the highest form of love (charity) in the life of Jesus
Christ.
The type of love which is referred to most frequently in the New Testament is agape.
This type of love goes beyond the limits of philia and eros; its character “clearly point[s]
to something new and distinct about the Christian understanding of love.”37 Agape is the
quintessence of love, the archetype against which all other love is measured.
ID YOU KNOW?
PHILIA: Saint Thomas Aquinas distinguished what he regarded as four
essential characteristics of Christian friendship:
(1) that good or benevolence is wished for the friend and not primarily for oneself
through a kind of concupiscence; it has to be based on doing what is good for the
friend; (2) that it is a mutual love between both friends, and not one-sided; (3) that it
is founded on some kind of communication; and (4) that it is a form of charity.
eros: The name of the ancient Greek god of love;
Cupid was his Roman counterpart. Generally
represented as a young, winged boy holding
a bow and arrow, Eros’ image has come to be
associated with our modern Valentine’s Day,
which we celebrate on February 14th.
��
Pieper, Faith, Hope, Love, 156.
��Discover Your Dignity, Part II, 86, quoting Jn 15:15.
��DCE, 3.
��
Pope John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body 47:2, trans. Michael Waldstein (Boston: Pauline
Books & Media, 2006), 316. Gen 2:24 reads, “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they
become one flesh.”
��DCE, 3.
This is what we have come to understand as the essence of Divine love, or charity; it is
a love which distinguishes us as Christians and which sets us apart from others. This
is the type of love that Jesus is referring to in the Gospel of John when He says: “A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that
you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you
have love for one another.”38
Agape descends into our souls from its Divine source. It is a fruit of faith, a faith which
is increased by knowledge and grace, for we could not believe in God if we had not
first come to know Him, if we had not come to understand His goodness, if we had not
personally experienced the deep love that He has for each one of us.
READ ARTICLE 4
Over the course of history, there have been some critics who have condemned the
Christian understanding of love as being prudish, naïve, and unrealistic. For them,
Christian morality is repressive, nothing more than a set of rules and regulations that
would prevent people from indulging in the pleasures of life. Friedrich Nietzsche,
the nineteenth-century German philosopher, was one of these critics. He opposed
Christianity and criticized past philosophers for their blind acceptance of Christian
morality, suggesting that it was repressive and responsible for taking the fun out of
human sexuality.
History, however, does not support Nietzsche’s point of view. The concept of “sacred”
prostitution and the divinization of eros as practiced in Greek culture did not result in
an experience of supreme happiness; rather, it was a perversion of religion, a means to
exploit and debase the prostitutes who served in the temple.39
While the Old Testament opposed this form of religion, it did not condemn eros as such.
Instead, it recognized that the perverted and false nature of this “counterfeit divinization
of eros actually strips it of its dignity and dehumanizes it.”40
When eros gives in to the temptation to reduce a person to a mere object of sensual need
or desire, when it uses the person in a utilitarian way for the selfish satisfaction of personal
pleasure, it loses its dignity and its grandeur. “An intoxicated and undisciplined eros . . . is
not an ascent in ‘ecstasy’ towards the Divine, but a fall, a degradation of man.”41
ID YOU KNOW?
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE [Nee-chuh] (1844–1900) was one of the
first existentialist philosophers. He was especially influential in French philosophical
circles during the 1960’s to 1980’s, with his declaration that “‘God is dead,’ his
perspectivism, and his emphasis on power as the real motivator and explanation for
people’s actions.” Nietzsche inspired many twentieth century figures, including the
influential psychologists Alfred Adler and Sigmund Freud.
—See Robert Wicks, “Friedrich Nietzsche,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Spring 2009 Edition)
��Jn 13:34–35.
��
See DCE, 4.
��DCE, 4.
��
Ibid.
When eros is ruled instead by the conscious decisions of our human intellect and will, we
are capable of rising above ourselves and our sinful inclinations. When that happens,
...D
esire goes together with this longing, but is so to speak overshadowed by
it. The subject in love is conscious of its presence, knows that it is there at
his or her disposal so to speak, but working to perfect this love, will see to it that desire
does not dominate, does not overwhelm all else that love comprises. For even those that
are not intellectually aware of it may sense that if desire is predominant it can deform
love between man and woman and rob them both of it.42
It is only when we work to discipline and purify eros that it can provide the image and
foretaste of the Divine, “that beatitude for which our whole being yearns.”43
6. In his book, Love and Eros in the Modern World, the German neurologist and psychiatrist
Joachim Bodamer explains: “In a society that makes sexuality the prerequisite for love and
not love the condition for the gift of physical union,” sex paradoxically “rather separates than
unites man and woman, leaving them alone and lonely precisely where they thought they
would surely find each other.”44
Why is sexuality, when it is the prerequisite for love (as opposed to a gift of self in response
to love), alienating to both men and women?
7. Nietzsche felt that the Church’s teaching on sexuality took all of the fun out of life. How
would you respond to his objections?
READ ARTICLE 5
Pope Benedict identifies two characteristics of eros that have emerged in the course of
our reflections about love. First of all, we expect that “true love” will last forever. The Holy
Father writes: “There is a certain relationship between love and the Divine: love promises
infinity, eternity.”45 In this promise and expectation of enduring happiness, human love
aspires to reflect the infinite and eternal nature of God’s love for us. We long for our
experience of love to be greater than the sum of our everyday existence; we yearn for it to
be a foretaste of the Divine.
��
Karol Wojtyła, Love and Responsibility, rev. ed., trans. H.T. Willetts (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc., 1981; reprint, San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993), 81–82.
��DCE, 4.
��
Pieper, Faith, Hope, Love, 265, quoting Joachim Bodamer, Liebe und Eros in der modernen Welt (Hamburg, 1958), 40.
��
Ibid., 5.
A second characteristic of eros is that it is a love that encompasses our entire being,
body and soul.46 Our bodies and souls are not separate entities. “Man, though made of
body and soul, is a unity.”47 For this reason, it is not possible for us to isolate our physical
actions from our inner selves; what we do “to” and “with” our bodies, we necessarily
also do to and with our souls. Eros, when stripped of its dignity and reduced to a purely
physical act, becomes a mere commodity; by virtue of the united nature of the body
and soul, the human person thus also becomes a commodity, an object “to be used and
exploited at will.”48
Pope Benedict reminds us that it is only when her body and soul are intimately united,
that woman is truly herself. It is woman, “the person, a unified creature composed of
body and soul, who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united, does [woman]
attain [her] full stature. Only thus is love—eros—able to mature and attain its authentic
grandeur.”49
When our body and soul are united, love becomes the stage where we are able to
exercise our freedom.50 Freedom becomes a positive act of the will in which we are free to
love, free to make a gift of our self to the one whom we love, and free from the inclination
to commit sin. In the words of Pope John Paul II:
T
he will loves only when a human being consciously commits his or her freedom
in respect of another human being seen as a person, a person whose value is fully
recognized and affirmed. This commitment does not consist primarily of desire for that
human being. . . . Willed love expresses itself above all in the desire of what is good for
the beloved person.51
Eros calls for purification, for maturity, and for renunciation if it is to attain its fullness,
if it is to be what it is meant to be. This idea is reflected in the Catechism of the Catholic
Church:
E
ither man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated
by them and becomes unhappy. “Man’s dignity therefore requires him to act out of
conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not
by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity
when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal
by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for
himself the means suited to this end.”52
��
See Catechism of the Catholic Church [hereinafter “CCC”] (2nd Ed., Washington, DC: United States Catholic
Conference, 2000), 362.
��
Vatican Council II: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Joy and Hope (Gaudium et Spes),
14; available from http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_
gaudium-et-spes_en.html; Internet; accessed 26 March, 2009.
��DCE, 5.
��
Ibid.
��
See ibid.
��
Wojtyła, Love and Responsibility, 136–137.
��CCC, 2339. Quote from Joy and Hope (Gaudium et Spes), 17.
8. The ancient Greeks viewed eros as a passion that overpowers reason, a love that “is
neither planned nor willed, but somehow imposes itself upon human beings.”53 If the object
of our love, under the influence of eros, is not something that we have freely chosen but
is something that dominates us (i.e. if it is a passion that we find irresistible), how can we
reconcile such a passion with the Christian ideal of love? Discuss the relationship between
love and freedom.
9. The devaluation of sexuality in modern society has given rise to the terrible scourge of
pornography. The problem in today’s pornographic culture is not that it overvalues the
body and sex, but rather that it fails to appreciate its true value. Alysse ElHage explains:
Pornography strips sex of its natural relationship to love, commitment, marriage and
procreation, reducing it to a purely physical, selfish act. . . . Pornography communicates
dangerous messages about sex and the value of human beings that are destructive to the
ability of men and women to form and maintain healthy relationships. It also puts every
man, woman and child at risk for sexual addiction and sexual violence.54
Even before provocative images are considered pornographic, do they have a negative
impact on society? Why has the devaluation of sexuality had such a devastating effect on
men and women? What can we do to combat the influence of pornography in our homes
and in society at large?55
ID YOU KNOW?
PORNOGRAPHY: In a testimony before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights Committee on
Judiciary of the United States Senate, Jill Manning noted that there are a number of disturbing trends associated with pornography consumption,
among them:
i. Increased marital distress, and risk of separation and divorce,
ii. Decreased marital intimacy and sexual satisfaction,
iii. Infidelity,
iv. Increased appetite for more graphic types of pornography and sexual activity associated with abusive, illegal or unsafe practices,
v. Devaluation of monogamy, marriage and child rearing,
vi. An increasing number of people struggling with compulsive and addictive sexual behavior.
In addition, when a child or adolescent is directly exposed to pornography, the following effects have been documented:
i. Lasting negative or traumatic emotional responses,
ii. Earlier onset of first sexual intercourse, thereby increasing the risk of STD’s over the lifespan,
iii. The belief that superior sexual satisfaction is attainable without having affection for one’s partner, thereby reinforcing the commoditization of
sex and the objectification of humans,
iv. The belief that being married or having a family are unattractive prospects,
v. Increased risk for developing sexual compulsions and addictive behaviour,
vi. Increased risk of exposure to incorrect information about human sexuality long before a minor is able to contextualize this information in ways
an adult brain could,
vii. And, overestimating the prevalence of less common practices (e.g., group sex, bestiality, or sadomasochistic activity).
—Jill C. Manning, “Pornography’s Impact on Marriage & The Family”
��
Ibid., 3.
��
Alysse M. ElHage, “Sexual Degradation, How Pornography Destroys the Family,” North Carolina Family Policy Council; available
from www.ncfamily.org/PolicyPapers/Findings%200407-SexualDegrad.pdf; Internet; accessed 30 March 2009.
��
Two outstanding pastoral letters on pornography have been recently published by U.S. Bishops. See Bishop Paul Loverde, Bought
With a Price: A Pastoral Letter on Pornography and the Attack on the Living Temple of God (2007); Bishop Robert W. Finn, Blessed
Are The Pure In Heart: A Pastoral Letter on the Dignity of the Human Person and the Dangers of Pornography (February 21, 2007).
READ ARTICLE 6
In the Song of Songs, we find a description of how eros can be purified in order to fully
realize its human and divine promise. Pope Benedict notes that two different Hebrew
words for love appear in the course of this Old Testament book of love-songs. First,
there is the word dodim, which signifies “a love that is still insecure, indeterminate and
searching.”56 In reflecting on the restless nature of this love, John Paul II also adds his
insight:
O
ne has the impression that in encountering each other, reaching each other,
experiencing closeness to each other, they [the man and the woman] ceaselessly
continue to tend toward something: they yield to the call of something that goes
beyond the transitory content of the moment and seems to surpass the limits of eros
reread in the words of the mutual “language of the body” (see Song 1:7–8; 2:17).
The search-aspiration has its interior dimension, “the heart is awake” even in sleep.
This aspiration born from love on the basis of the “language of the body” is a search
for integral beauty, for purity free from every stain; it is a search for perfection that
contains the synthesis of human beauty, beauty of soul and body.
In the Song of Songs, human eros reveals the face of love ever in search and, as it were,
never satisfied.57
Later in the Song of Songs, the word dodim is replaced by ahabà [a-hab-aw], a word
which the Greek Old Testament translates as agape.58 Agape is no longer simply ‘love
as desire,’ a selfish love which is concerned primarily with the satisfaction of one’s own
personal needs. It is a love which moves beyond oneself to become care and concern for
the other. “No longer is it self-seeking, a sinking in the intoxication of happiness; instead
it seeks the good of the beloved: it becomes renunciation and it is ready, and even
willing, for sacrifice.”59
Through the journey of purification, love “seeks to become definitive, . . . both in the
sense of exclusivity (this particular person alone) and in the sense of being ‘for ever.’”60
The deep trust to which we are called when we enter into a relationship of love is rooted
in the nature of our being, a being that is at once unique and unrepeatable.
ID YOU KNOW?
SONG OF SONGS is the first of the five volumes or scrolls
(meghillôth) used by the Jews on important feast days; it is read on the
eighth day of the Passover. The author of the book remains unknown,
but it was most likely written in the first part of the fourth century B.C.
—Antonio Fuentes, A Guide to the Bible
��DCE, 6.
��
Pope John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them, A Theology of the Body, 112:2, 4; 583, 585. Emphasis in the
original.
��
See DCE, 6.
��DCE, 6.
��
Ibid.
We are not loved for our qualities or our attributes; after all, these qualities (e.g. beauty,
health, or talents) are transitory. They may decrease over time, and other women may
have these qualities in even greater abundance. The essence of authentic love is that we
are loved simply for our own sake.61
In the relationship of love that exists between a man and a woman, the desire for our
love to be exclusive finds its proper expression in the promise of marriage, the unity of
persons that is the consequence of their reciprocal gift of self. The Catechism tells us that
“the love of the spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the
spouses’ community of persons, which embraces their entire life: ‘so they are no longer
two, but one flesh.’”62
As our love is purified, we also long for it to be lasting. Saint Paul assures us that “love
never ends.”63 Inspired by these words, we are certain that there is no obstacle or
challenge that true love cannot overcome. This conviction springs from the confidence
that we have in our image of God’s love: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”64 This is the love which we seek in the here and now, yet it
is a love which will only be perfectly realized in eternity.
Without agape, the concept of enduring love would be beyond our reach; on our own, we
cannot be certain that our love will stand the test of time. It is only by the grace of God
that our love can be elevated and purified; it is only by following His example of selfsacrifice and renunciation that we can realize its promise.
At the heart of the love (agape) that Christ modeled for us on the Cross, we always find
the joyful willingness to sacrifice self—to set aside our hopes, dreams, and personal
preferences—for the sake of the beloved. Our Lord taught us this truth by both His words
and by His example: “For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his
life for my sake, he will save it.”65
Eros, in its most elevated state, rises “in ecstasy” toward the Divine and leads us beyond
ourselves. It is not a “moment of intoxication, but . . . a journey, an ongoing exodus
out of the closed inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving.”66 Eros
foreshadows agape in its call to renunciation, purification, and healing, holding within
itself the promise of a love through which every woman can be authentically fulfilled, a
love which treats her body and soul as an integral whole.
61 See Rocco Buttiglione, Karol Wojtyła: The Thought of the Man Who Became Pope John Paul II (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1997), 102.
��CCC, 1644.
��1 Cor 13:8.
��Rom 8:38–39.
��Lk 9:24.
66 DCE, 6.
10. Emotions play an important role in the development of a relationship of love.
However, the mark of mature love is that we love the other person for who they
are, not for how they make us feel. Share your thoughts about what constitutes a
“mature love.”
11. In an interview with Peter Seewald, Pope Benedict said:
A part of every human love is that it is only truly great and enriching if I am ready to deny
myself for this other person, to come out of myself, to give of myself. And that is certainly
true of our relationship with God, out of which, in the end, all our other relationships must
grow.
I must begin by no longer looking at myself, but by asking what he wants. I must begin by
learning to love. That consists precisely in turning my gaze away from myself and toward
him. With this attitude I no longer ask, What can I get for myself, but I simply let myself be
guided by him, truly lose myself in Christ; when I abandon myself, let go of myself, then I
see, yes, life is right at last, because otherwise I am far too narrow for myself. When, so to
speak, I go outside, then it truly begins, then life attains its greatness.67
Why does life attain its greatness only when we abandon ourselves to Christ? Discuss the
relationship between love and self-denial.
LIVING THE GOSPEL OF LOVE
The role of agape is to cultivate and perfect our love, to draw us into union with God and
others. We sometimes console ourselves with the thought that God’s command to love
others does not require us to like them; it is, after all, “possible to love someone although
there are many things about him that one does not ‘like.’”68 This does not, however,
provide us with a concrete solution for how we ought to respond to those difficult people
in our lives who drive us crazy! In First Corinthians, the apostle Paul writes, “Love is
patient and kind,”69 to which Peter Kreeft responds:
J
ust try being patient without agape. It simply will not work. It works only as long
as you feel patient. So then you try substituting hard “will power” for soft feelings.
“I’ll be patient with that so-and-so if it kills me.” And it almost does. You discover
two things: that your will is ridiculously weak and that even when you succeed in
repressing your impatience, it is still there. You have buried it alive; it is not dead. Your
love is false and forced and formal. Patience has to come from the heart, not from
either undulating feelings or from iron resolution.70
��
Ratzinger, God and the World, 44.
��
Pieper, Faith, Hope, Love, 158.
��1 Cor 13:4.
��
Peter Kreeft, The God Who Loves You (original edition Knowing the Truth of God’s Love, Ann Arbor, MI: Servant
Books, 1988; reprint San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 81.
On our own, we are unable to purify our love; it is God alone who works within our hearts
to transform and elevate them. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus shared her own struggle
with love in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul. In the words of Saint Thérèse:
F
ormerly one of our nuns managed to irritate me whatever she did or said. The devil
was mixed up in it, for it was certainly he who made me see so many disagreeable
traits in her. As I did not want to give way to my natural dislike for her, I told myself
that charity should not only be a matter of feeling but should show itself in deeds.
So I set myself to do for this sister just what I should have done for someone I loved
most dearly. Every time I met her, I prayed for her and offered God all her virtues and
her merits. I was sure this would greatly delight Jesus, for every artist likes to have his
works praised and the divine Artist of souls is pleased when we do not halt outside the
exterior of the sanctuary where He has chosen to dwell but go inside and admire its
beauty.
I did not remain content with praying a lot for this nun who caused me so much
disturbance. I tried to do as many things for her as I could, and whenever I was
tempted to speak unpleasantly to her, I made myself give her a pleasant smile and tried
to change the subject. The Imitation says: “It is more profitable to leave to everyone his
way of thinking than to give way to contentious discourses.”
When I was violently tempted by the devil and if I could slip away without her seeing
my inner struggle, I would flee like a soldier deserting the battlefield. And after all this
she asked me one day with a beaming face: “Sister Thérèse, will you please tell me what
attracts you so much to me? You give me such a charming smile whenever we meet.”
Ah! It was Jesus hidden in the depth of her soul who attracted me, Jesus who makes the
bitterest things sweet!71
Discussion Question:
12. What practical suggestions does Saint Thérèse offer to help us practice the “Gospel of
Love” more authentically in our everyday lives? Do you think of others as God’s works of
art? How is it possible to see past the “exterior of the sanctuary” of those whom God places
in our paths?
Point for Personal Meditation
“To love means not only to give but even more so to accept, to accept the love
of another person. To love God means to accept His love.”72
FATHER TADEUSZ DAJCZER, THE GIFT OF FAITH
��
Saint Thérèse
� ��
of Lisieux, trans. John Beevers, The Autobiography of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul (New York:
Doubleday, 1957; reprint New York: Image, 1989), 126–127. In the internal quotation, St. Thérèse is referring to The Imitation of
Christ, written by Thomas à Kempis.
��
Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer, The Gift of Faith (Ventura, CA: In the Arms of Mary Foundation, 2001), 55.

Look inside of the God Is Love course material

Transcription

Similar documents

The Prayer to St Michael, which was traditionally said at the end of

His Holiness, Benedict XVI Pope Emeritus

Inspirational Books and Films on John Paul II

Cause I lost my job two weeks before Christmas. And I

Pope Benedict XVI supports Masurian Lake District. Jacek

Pope John Paul II`s Teaching on Sexuality and Marriage: An Appraisal

2012 Year in Review

Complete Psalmodia - Institute of Coptic Studies

Youth Voice - Our Lady of the Lake

The Good Shepherd, mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia