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    God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est
    God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est
    God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est
    Ebook73 pages1 hour

    God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est

    By Pope Benedict XVI

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    About this ebook

    Everyone needs love. Everyone desires love. But not everyone understands love. In fact, love is probably the most misunderstood subject in history.

    In his first Encyclical, Pope Benedict helps to clarify the meaning of love. He examines the nature of various kinds of love — human love and divine love, eros, friendship, and charity. He writes beautifully and inspirationally of how man was made for love by the God who is love, the God who became one of us out of love — Jesus Christ.

    In the second part of the Encyclical, Benedict addresses the Church's practice of love. He examines the relationship between justice and charity, as well as the call of every Catholic to serve others in love. The Pope's "love letter" to mankind is remarkably accessible and timely.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIgnatius Press
    Release dateSep 3, 2009
    ISBN9781681492087
    God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est
    Author

    Pope Benedict XVI

    Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022), born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known as "Pope emeritus" upon his resignation, and he retained this title until his death.

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      Book preview

      God Is Love - Pope Benedict XVI

      GOD IS LOVE

      Deus Caritas Est

      ENCYCLICAL LETTER

      GOD IS LOVE

      Deus Caritas Est

      OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF

      BENEDICT XVI

      TO THE BISHOPS

      PRIESTS AND DEACONS

      MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS

      AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL

      ON CHRISTIAN LOVE

      LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA

      IGNATIUS PRESS    SAN FRANCISCO

      The Introduction to his Encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI

      was published in the edition of the Encyclical Deus Caritas Est

      published in Famiglia Cristiana, February 5, 2006,

      by the Societa Apostolato, San Paolo, Rome, Italy

      Front cover art: Papal Coat of Arms of Pope Benedict XVI

      by AgnusImages.com

      Back cover photograph: Photograph of Pope Benedict XVI

      by Stefano Spaziani

      Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum

      © 2006 Libreria Editrice Vaticana

      Foreword © 2006 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco

      All rights reserved

      ISBN 978-1-58617-163-6 (H)

      ISBN 1-58617-163-1 (H)

      Library of Congress Control Number 2006923028

      Printed in the United States of America

      CONTENTS

      Introduction [1]

      PART I

      THE UNITY OF LOVE

      IN CREATION

      AND IN SALVATION HISTORY

      A problem of language [2]

      Eros and Agape—difference and unity [3-8]

      The newness of biblical faith [9— 11]

      Jesus Christ—the incarnate love of God [12—15]

      Love of God and love of neighbor [16—18]

      PART II

      CARITAS

      THE PRACTICE OF LOVE

      BY THE CHURCH AS A COMMUNITY OF LOVE

      The Church’s charitable activity as a manifestation of Trinitarian love [19]

      Charity as a responsibility of the Church [20-25]

      Justice and Charity [26—29]

      The multiple structures of charitable service in the social context of the present day [30]

      The distinctiveness of the Church’s charitable activity [31]

      Those responsible for the Church’s charitable activity [32—39]

      Conclusion [40—42]

      APPENDIX

      An Introduction by Pope Benedict XVI published in the Famiglia Cristiana edition of the Encyclical

      Endnotes

      INTRODUCTION

      1. 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.

      We have come to believe in God’s love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. 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. Saint John’s Gospel describes that event in these words: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should . . . have eternal life (3:16). In acknowledging the centrality of love, Christian faith has retained the core of Israel’s faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth. The pious Jew prayed daily the words of the Book of Deuteronomy which expressed the heart of his existence: Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (6:4—5). Jesus united into a single precept this commandment of love for God and the commandment of love for neighbor found in the Book of Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (10:18;cf. Mk 12:29—31). Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere command; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us.

      In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others. That, in essence, is what the two main parts of this Letter are about, and they are profoundly interconnected. The first part is more speculative, since I wanted here—at the beginning of my Pontificate—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. The second part is more concrete, since it treats the ecclesial exercise of the commandment of love of neighbor. The argument has vast implications, but a lengthy treatment would go beyond the scope of the present Encyclical. I wish to emphasize some basic elements, so as to call forth in the world renewed energy and commitment in the human response to God’s love.

      PART I

      THE UNITY OF LOVE

      IN CREATION

      AND IN SALVATION HISTORY

      A problem of language

      2. God’s love for us is fundamental for our lives, and it raises important questions about who God is and who we are. In considering this, we immediately find ourselves hampered by a problem of language. Today, the term love has become one of the most frequently used and misused of words, a word to

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