“DEUS caritas est.” A passage from the first letter of St. John, meaning, God is love, these words are now the title of the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI.
As such, the document is meant to present the general thrust of the Pope Benedict’s papacy. It is where we can find the seeds and directions of his activities for years to come.
Yes, a very bold move, but that’s just how it should be. As the supreme authority on earth, the very Vicar of Christ on earth, the Pope is expected to give his all in the service of God and souls. Nothing less is expected.
Focusing on God and love is a good and timely reminder for the world that is getting increasingly indifferent and even hostile to God and, thus, also increasingly confused about its role and purpose.
Such focus is also a vital continuation of Pope John Paul’s rich and Spirit-filled magisterium. The truth is many of us are lost or at least confused in the complicated web we are making supposedly out of love.
The document’s storyline, so to speak, is that since God is love and we are children of his, made in his image and likeness, we ought to know what true love is and live it consistently in all aspects of our life, be it personal, family, social, etc.
This love is revealed in its fullness in Jesus Christ who perfected the old law with the new law of love—love of God with all one’s might, and love of neighbor as oneself.
It is a love that goes much farther than being sentimental. While it always respects and makes use of emotions, it is first of all based on the truth, taught by Christ and now by the Church and lived properly only in the Holy Spirit.
What happens many times is that we meet caricatures and counterfeits, distorting the real one by focusing on one aspect while missing out on the others, or simply showing love’s peripherals without having its real substance.
Some of them can be so subtly deceiving that they can affect big sectors of
society. This is when we can get into real trouble. Cultures can become blighted because of a grave misunderstanding of love.
The Pope clarifies in basic terms what this true love is, reminding us that love can only be one though its expressions are varied. Manifestations of love not in keeping with this fundamental truth can only be fake and dangerous.
Personally, the encyclical reminds me of that excitement when I studied St. Thomas Aquinas’ proofs of the existence of God. I know there are many people still grappling hard with the question of whether God exists or not. To me and to many others, thanks to God, this is a settled question.
St. Thomas’ proofs articulated what I have been struggling to explain about the existence of God. Thus when he came up with the concept of God as “Ipsum Esse Subsistens,” the Subsisting Being Itself, I went ballistic. Things just fell into place.
St. Thomas’ philosophical explanation about God’s existence answered all the questions I had. Such explanation also coincided with what Moses heard from the burning bush—God’s name is simply “I am who am.”
God is not limited by any finite essence. His very essence is simply “to be,” to exist. Thus, God is the ultimate and constant object of our intelligence and will which go beyond the merely sensible and intelligible and toward the infinite.
But the infinite is not void and empty. The infinite exists because of God. Thus the natural tendency of our spiritual faculties, unless thwarted by a number of reasons, is to discover, find and savor God.
This is how far reason or philosophy can go. Imagine how I felt when I discovered from Christian faith that this God is not only a supreme being, existing from all eternity, but is love, and is manifested fully in Jesus Christ!
Try to read and study Pope Benedict’s encyclical. Perhaps you will get an idea of what I am trying to say here but cannot. Words fail me. It is love that defines God perfectly, and it is love that also has to define us.
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