A Response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical God is Love

Part I: Am we the embodiment of Love?

This new pope is good, at least from what I've read of him thus far. I don't just mean it in
the sense that he's a good man. I mean, he's good in the sense that he's impressed me. He
has shown an awareness regarding the status of our world, and seems to have a good
grasp of the chasm that separates many people from Jesus Christ and the Church. He
doesn’t seem to take a holier-than-thou attitude, but rather, a down-to-earth attitude. In
his new encyclical God is Love, Pope Benedict XVI essentially makes a call for love.
And he stresses love’s importance:

Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can illuminate a world grown dim
and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are
able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in
this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world—this is the invitation I would
like to extend with the present Encyclical (p. 20, #39).

Reading that we're called to experience love is light and easy reading. And to me,
relative to reading Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI's God is Love is just that: light
and easy reading. At the same time, it isn’t easy, especially when you really begin to
think about the invitation the Pope is really extending: "Despite being extended to all
mankind, it [love] is not reduced to a generic, abstract, and undemanding expression of
love, but calls for my [our] own practical commitment here and now (p. 8, #15)."

The view of being practically committed to love is tough. What does that mean for me
specifically? How am I supposed to express love? Yes, reading the words above is easy.
But thinking about them below the surface even just a bit is not easy; turning those
thoughts into introspective questions is not.

While thinking about how to be committed to love is tough, the cover of the encyclical
poses an even tougher concept to me: that God is Love. Again at the surface, we’ve
heard this before and this seems simple. But again, below the surface, this concept causes
all kinds of philosophical problems for me (and I'm no philosopher). The biggest of these
concerns is thinking about the fact that we are created in the image of God (Genesis
1:26). If this is the case and God is Love, does this mean that we ourselves are created in
the image of Love? If we're supposed to be Christ to others, does this mean we are
supposed to be Love to others?

The Pope reminds us in this encyclical about what Jesus taught us long ago:

We should especially mention the great parable of the Last Judgment (cf. Mt 25:31-46),
in which 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...If 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).
But this text hardly excludes the love of God as impossible. On the contrary, the whole
context of the passage quoted from the First Letter of John shows that such love is
explicitly demanded. The unbreakable bond between love of God and love of neighbour
is emphasized. One is so closely connected to the other that to say we love God becomes
a lie if we are closed to our neighbour or hate him altogether. Saint John's words should
rather be interpreted to mean that love of neighbour is a path that leads to the encounter
with God and that closing our eyes to our neighbour also blinds us to God (pp. 8-9, #15-
16).

It is so easy (though not necessarily enjoyable) to focus on our sins of commission. At

times when we do so, as clear sinners, it is often difficult to picture ourselves as being
created in the image of God. It is perhaps even more difficult to consider all the sins of
omission we commit against our neighbors and therefore Jesus every day, in little ways.
It is often difficult to picture those we hate or look down upon—those “we are closed
to”-- as being created in the image of God. But in the spirit of “love your enemies,” the
Pope says, "in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even
know (p. 10, #18)." And we are to do the same. We are to love the stranger, the
prisoner. Put another way: we are to love Jesus. We are to remember that God doesn’t
make mistakes. We are to smile at strangers on the street, clothe the homeless, and feed
the hungry. We are to be Christ to others, to be Love to others.

But unfortunately this isn’t always how it happens. The Pope says it well: “In a world
where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred
and violence, this message ["of the gift of God's love with which God draws near to us"]
is both timely and significant (“Introduction” section).” It is timely and significant
indeed. And it is a message that needs to be heard by all: Democrats, Republicans,
Muslims, Jews, Iraqis, and Americans. And as Christians, we need to be particularly
careful that we follow the way of Love. Or equivalently stated, that we follow the way of
God. The Pope recommends an easy starting point:

The parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:25-37) offers two particularly important
clarifications. Until that time, the concept of "neighbour" was understood as referring
essentially to one's countrymen and to foreigners who had settled in the land of Israel; in
other words, to the closely-knit community of a single country or people. This limit is
now abolished. Anyone who needs me, and whom I can help, is my neighbour. The
concept of "neighbour" is now universalized, yet it remains concrete. (p. 8, #15).

The idea that those same Democrats, Republicans, Muslims, Jews, Iraqis, and Americans
are my neighbors is challenging. And loving them is even more challenging. The
alternatives are so much easier: going to war with them, mistreating them (in daily life,
through the grapevine, or via the courts), or hating them in every conceivable way.

But then, the Pope's point above (put so succinctly) was that if our neighbor is made in
the image of God, and if how we treat our neighbor is actually how we treat Jesus, then
maybe the two greatest commandments Jesus pointed to are really a single
commandment: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second
is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39).” Put another
way, maybe in loving our neighbor (ie. Jesus) as ourself, we are actually loving God.

But then if God is Love, are we to love Love? What can we learn from Scripture if we
replace the word “God” for “Love?” Among other things, we get a pretty clear picture of
who God is when we read 1 Corinthians 13 this way:

God is patient, God is kind. He is not jealous, is not pompous, He is not inflated, He is
not rude, He does not seek its own interests, He is not quick-tempered, He does not brood
over injury, He does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. God bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God never fails.

How easy to love God when we think of Him this way! How easy to love Love itself!
Not storybook love, but mature, true love as described when we replace the word “Love”
in its proper places in the quote above.

But then, this isn’t very new. After all, we inherently know this about God already.
Perhaps again the simplicity that lies in those statements should be taken to the next level.
That is, perhaps it should again be taken to a set of deeper questions, based on the
concept that we are to be Christ to others. That is (again), that we are to be Love to
others:

Am I patient, am I kind? Am I jealous or pompous? Am I inflated or rude? Do I seek

my own interests? Am I quick-tempered? Do I brood over injury? Do I rejoice over
wrongdoing? Do I rejoice with the truth? Do I bear all things, believe all things, hope all
things, endure all things? When, how, and why do I fail?

So I ask: as beings created in the image of God who are to be Christ to one another, do
we embody Love?

All Bible quotes are from the New American Bible.

All quotes from the Pope are from Pope Benedict XVI's God is Love.
©2006 Tom Reagan
http://TomReagan.com
A Response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical God is Love

Part II: Do you have an erotic life, or a mere sex life?

In Part I of my response to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical God is Love, I asked an

essential set of questions (per 1 Corinthians 13) which I summed up to a single question
we must each introspectively ask ourselves: as beings created in the image of God who
are to be Christ to one another, do we embody Love? This is something we must ask
ourselves if we are to take steps towards Christ. We must size up where our strengths
and weaknesses lie.

C.S. Lewis has a book in which he discusses what he defines as The Four Loves (which
he calls “Friendship,” “Affection,” “Eros,” and “Charity”). Like Lewis, Pope Benedict
XVI does not shy away from discussing differing types of love. We should not shy away
from self introspection in how we love (or fall short of love) either.

Eros or erotic love, is the means by which the Creator chose for us to be procreators.
Eros, as with all forms of love that exist within the natural law, is a gift of Love. In other
words, eros is a gift of God Himself (due to the very fact that eros is love and God is
Love). It is no mistake on God's part that our sexual desires exist; exercised within the
natural order and proper context, God uses eros as the means to make two people one.

Theologically, there are no faults in this sort of belief system. But then, remaining true to
this sort of system is tough! After all, it’s easy to gloss over words regarding “natural
law” or “natural order.” And eros, only within the Church’s “proper context” (ie.
monogamous, faithful marriage which is open to children), is a tall order! Or as the Pope
asks:

Doesn't the Church, with all her commandments and prohibitions, turn to bitterness the
most precious thing in life? Doesn't she blow the whistle just when the joy which is the
Creator's gift offers us a happiness which is itself a certain foretaste of the divine? (pp.
2-3, #3).

The Pope’s fervent response is NO! After all, the Church (as the Bride of Christ the
Bridegroom) loves God, and therefore loves Love. Further, since eros is a form of Love,
the Church therefore loves eros. In fact, this is the very reason that eros “is itself a
certain foretaste of the divine.” Because God is Love.

But then, outside of the proper context, eros ceases to be love, and becomes mere sex.
Or, (in a manner which personally reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man),
the Pope says:

Nowadays Christianity of the past is often criticized as having been opposed to the body;
and it is quite true that tendencies of this sort have always existed. Yet the contemporary
way of exalting the body is deceptive. 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. On the contrary, he now
 considers his body and sexuality as the purely material part of himself, to be used and
exploited at will. Nor does he see it as an arena for the exercise of his freedom, but as a
mere object that he attempts, as he pleases, to make both enjoyable and harmless. Here
we are actually dealing with a debasement of the human body: no longer is it integrated
into our overall existential freedom; no longer is it a vital expression of our whole being,
but it is more or less relegated to the purely biological sphere...Christian faith, on the
other hand, has always considered man a unity in duality, a reality in which spirit and
matter compenetrate, and in which each is brought to a new nobility (pp. 3-4, #5).

In other words, rather than be completely separated from our spirits or our bodies, we are
to love each other in a means parallel to the way the Body of Christ loves His Bride’s
Body: the Church. We are to welcome the Holy Spirit into eros.

Do we think this way about eros? Or are we concerned with mere sex, separated from the
Spirit? Indeed, we must introspectively look at our views of eros here, for thinking of
eros in a way separated from the Holy Spirit is just that: love separated from God. And
since God is Love, love separated from God (that is, love separated from Love), isn't
really Love at all.

Welcoming the Holy Spirit into our sex lives makes it difficult to stray from true,
Christian love. Or put another way, it makes it difficult to stray from the true, Christian
God. Do you have an erotic life, or a mere sex life?

All Bible quotes are from the New American Bible.

All quotes from the Pope are from Pope Benedict XVI's God is Love.
©2006 Tom Reagan
http://TomReagan.com
A Response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical God is Love

Part III: How does charity fit in with love?

In Part I of my response to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical God is Love, I implied that as
beings created in the image of God, we are to be the embodiment of Love. In Part II, I
suggested that we should welcome God into just one are of our lives. In doing so, our
mere sex lives become our erotic lives. Combining the ideas of Parts I and II and going a
step further, we are to be Love to others and allow the Holy Spirit to enter every part of
our lives. In this, the third and final installment of my response, I will discuss how the
Pope recommends we do this by discussing what could arguably be called the most
specifically-Christian type of love (if such a classification exists): charity. In all honesty,
Deus Caritas Est, the official Latin title for this Pope’s first encyclical could perhaps be
better translated to its English title as God is Charity. In following the way of charity, the
way of Love, we will be following the way of God. Put another way, our mere lives will
become lives of Love.

Where should we start trying to live these lives of Love? After all, there are so many
matters which require our help! The Pope recommends we should start by trying to
understand the basics of charity, as individuals and groups:

Following the example given in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Christian charity is
first of all the simple response to immediate needs and specific situations: feeding the
hungry, clothing the naked, caring for and healing the sick, visiting those in prison, etc.
The Church's charitable organizations, beginning with those of Caritas (at diocesan,
national and international levels), ought to do everything in their power to provide
resources and above all the personnel needed for this work (p. 17, #31a).

As it stands today though, we have limited people and limited resources available to us.
Often it seems hopeless that anything we do will make a difference. But then, the Pope
says:

There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations might tempt us to
become discouraged. But precisely then 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. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest
to the Lord. It is God who governs the world, not we (p. 19, #35).

To take on true humility, we must look to Jesus as a perfect example who “emptied
himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in
appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross
(Philippians 2:7-8).” Indeed, we must look to Jesus for His aid: “Christ took the lowest
place in the world—the Cross—and by this radical humility he redeemed us and
constantly comes to our aid (p. 19, #35).” We must pray for change, in ourselves and
those around us. Even when we see that what is happening in the world around us is not
good or seemingly of God, when we see evil and suffering in the world, we are to take on
this humility, to “entrust the rest to the Lord.” We are to continually pray for the Lord’s
help in our work in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for and healing the
sick, and visiting the imprisoned. (Perhaps, per Matthew 25:40 mentioned in Part I, we
are asking Him to help us to feed Him?) Put simply, we are to ask God to enter our lives
of Love.

But feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, healing the sick, and
visiting the imprisoned is only part of the equation. We are to use our Christian hearts:

We contribute to a better world only by personally doing good now, with full commitment
and wherever we have the opportunity, independently of partisan strategies and
programmes. The Christian's programme—the programme of the Good Samaritan, the
programme of Jesus--is "a heart which sees". This heart sees where love is needed and
acts accordingly (p. 17, #31b).

As Christians, looking to love our neighbor, we must consider what every person we
meet truly needs—be it food, clothing, care, or something more. In many cases even the
hungry, naked, ill, and imprisoned need something more. After all, “One does not live by
bread alone (Matthew 4:4).” In many cases:

They need humanity. They need heartfelt concern. Those who work for the Church's
charitable organizations must be distinguished by the fact that they do not merely meet
the needs of the moment, but they dedicate themselves to others with heartfelt concern,
enabling them to experience the richness of their humanity...These charity workers need
a "formation of the heart": they need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ
which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others. As a result, love of neighbour
will no longer be for them a commandment imposed, so to speak, from without, but a
consequence deriving from their faith, a faith which becomes active through love (cf. Gal
5:6) (p. 17, #31a).

To take it a step further, as Christ comes to us and helps us when we call out to Him, we
are to come to others and to help them when they call to us. As Jesus approaches us
personally even when we don’t call to Him, we are to approach others even when they
don’t call to us: “In the saints one thing becomes clear: those who draw near to God do
not withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them (p. 21, #42).” But then,
what I said and what the Pope said are not truly equivalent. His point surpasses mine.
We are not simply to approach others, we are to become “close to them.”

How are we to do this though? After all, there are so many people that need us, so many
that desire us to be truly close to them, to truly love them, to be charitable to them. As
the Pope says:

When we consider the immensity of others’ needs, we can on the one hand, be driven
towards an ideology that would aim at…fully resolving every problem. Or we can be
tempted to give in to inertia, since it would seem that in any event nothing can be
accomplished. At such times, a living relationship with Christ is decisive if we are to
keep on the right path, without falling into an arrogant contempt for man, something not
only unconstructive but actually destructive, or surrendering to a resignation which
 would prevent us from being guided by love in the service of others. Prayer, as a means
of drawing ever new strength from Christ, is concretely and urgently needed. People who
pray are not wasting their time, even though the situation appears desperate and seems
to call for action alone (p. 19, #36).

Within a living relationship with Christ, we will learn to take on Christ. We will learn to
meet not just others’ material needs, but their spiritual needs as well. But what about
evangelization in meeting others spiritual needs? Are we not to spread Christ and His
message to those with which we come into contact? The Pope points out that Christians
“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 (p. 18, #32).”

A lot of readers will simply say, “Excellent point! Charity and love speak for
themselves.” As the Pope notes, this is certainly true in some cases. But in others, it is
not enough. Sometimes, we must be willing to overcome the fear of rejection of
speaking indirectly or directly of God. Sometimes this is what people need most:
heartfelt concern in knowing Christ. Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Introduce
him or her to the Fisher of Men is quite another, and he'll feed on the Love of Christ
forever. We must be willing to rejoice “when they insult you [us] and persecute you
[us]and utter every kind of evil against you [us] (falsely) because of me [Jesus].
(Matthew 5:11) .” Indeed, the Pope’s point is strong. We must be willing to share God
in both ways that he recommends.

But to share God in any way whatsoever, we must know God. “A personal relationship
with God and an abandonment to his will can prevent man from being demeaned and
save him from falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism (p. 20, #37).” To
introduce Him to others, we must know Him personally: as Father, as Son, and as Holy
Spirit. “The Christian who prays does not claim to be able to change God’s plans or
correct what he has foreseen. Rather he seeks an encounter with the Father of Jesus
Christ, asking God to be present with the consolation of the Spirit to him and his work (p.
20, #37).” We must pray to know Him.

In spite of love, in spite of eros, in spite of charity, the bottom line is that people are
starving each and every day. They are starving from lack of food, but also starving from
lack of something more. And they're not alone in that sense; we are all starving for
Someone more. We are all starving for Love: “Often the deepest cause of suffering is the
very absence of God (p. 18, #31c).” As Christians, we must refocus on loving God, on
loving Love. After all, “disdain for love is disdain for God and man alike; it is an attempt
to do without God. Consequently, the best defence of God and man consists precisely in
love (p. 18, #31c).”

As Christians, we must refocus on much we need God, on how much we need Love. We
must bring this Love to others who are starving for it as well. It is our responsibility to
re-instill Love at the heart of everything we do: in our moral lives, in our relationships
with those we love, in our encounters with our enemies, and in our work. In other words,
we must re-instill God in our lives of Love.
 All Bible quotes are from the New American Bible.
All quotes from the Pope are from Pope Benedict XVI's God is Love.
©2006 Tom Reagan

http://TomReagan.com