Benedict wants us to recognize that all our relationships find their meaning in the connection between divine love and human love .”
From the get-go , Pope Benedict wants to reassure his audience regarding the image of God that permeates this document . So begins God Is Love , an encyclical about the search for love and relationships . The title is taken from the first Epistle of John . Benedict states , “ In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence … I wish my first encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we , in turn , must share with others .” ( 1 ) He emphasizes that we must come to believe in God ’ s love , for “ being a 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 .” ( 2 )
What is that direction ? For too many Catholics , Christianity only provides a set of rules to be followed ; it takes a negative approach to sexuality , characterizing it as the chief source of sin . Many might agree with Fredrick Nietzsche whom the pope quotes as maintaining that Christianity has poisoned eros , that the church “ with all her commandments and prohibitions , turns 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 a happiness which is itself a certain foretaste of the Divine ?” ( 3 )
Benedict responds by rightly acknowledging that the term “ love ” is one of the most frequently used and misused words in the modern age . He wants to bring clarity to this topic by uniting the ancient Greek distinctions between philia , the love of friendship , and eros , our drive toward communion , with the Christian contribution of agape , self-sacrificing love .
In response to the Enlightenment critique that Christianity destroyed eros , Benedict maintains that on the contrary , Christianity has not destroyed eros but rather has declared war on the cultural distortion of eros as lust — that is , “ eros as a kind of intoxication that overpowers reason and strips eros of its dignity and dehumanizes it .” ( 3 ) The testimonies of the young adults who introduced this article speak to the hard reality that using another person for one ’ s own sexual pleasure dehumanizes both . Such experiences give credence to Pope Benedict ’ s insistence that eros must mature into agape : In particular , “ the pope emphasizes that this union finds a unique expression in marriage ‘ where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness .’ ( 3 ) Yet , as we know only too well , marriage and family life are in crisis . The high divorce rate reminds us that the reasons why a man and woman marry often are not enough to see them through the long haul of fidelity and commitment . The marriages that last seem to be based on philia — a friendship which puts the wellbeing of the other first . Joined to philia is the union of eros and agape . Thus , the drive for communion that leads a married couple to the peak of sexual expression through sexual intercourse must be joined to agape ’ s expression of self-donation — the gift of oneself to the other . Without the integration of all three — philia , eros , and agape — marriages flounder and family life suffers .
Benedict wants us to recognize that all our relationships find their meaning in the connection between divine love and human love . He emphasizes that the Scriptures reveal to us that God is not only the absolute and ultimate source of being , but at the same time , God is a lover who loves with all the passion of eros united with the self-gift of agape .
The pope then goes on to emphasize the centerpiece of his encyclical — that the unity of philia , eros , and agape finds dramatic expression in Jesus . “ The real novelty of the New Testament ,” he states , “ is the figure of Jesus Christ who gives flesh and blood to those concepts .” In Jesus , philia takes on new depth as witnessed in his friendship with his disciples . Eros joins with agape in dramatic form “ when in Jesus , it is God himself who goes in search of the ‘ stray sheep ,’ a suffering and lost humanity .” ( 9 ) His description is worth quoting in full : When Jesus speaks in the parables of the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep , of the woman who looks for the lost coin , of the father who goes to meet and embraces his prodigal son , these are no mere words : they constitute an explanation of his very being and activity , His death on the cross is the culmination of … God ’ s gift of himself in order to raise humanity up and save it . This is love in its most radical form … It is from there that our definition of love begins . In this contemplation the Christian discovers the path along which his life and love must move . ( 9 )
Benedict wants us to recognize that all our relationships find their meaning in the connection between divine love and human love .”
6 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring / Summer 2023