encyclical " "
“Deus caritas est” is dedicated to expressing the centre of the Christian faith: the image of God, the consequent image of man and the quality of his life, under the sign of love. “In my first encyclical declares Benedict XVI I wish to speak of the love with which God fills us and which must be communicated by us to others” (1). The words of the Pope says the theologian MARCO DOLDI in this summary of its contents ring out in a world in which the name of God is at times linked to vendetta, the duty of hatred and violence. PART ONE THE UNITY OF LOVE IN THE CREATION AND IN THE HISTORY OF SALVATION. The experience of loving is deeply rooted in the heart of man created in the image of God, who is Love. That’s why already the ancients investigated the heart of man, conscious as they were that “some relationship exists between love and the Divine” (5) and that to love is a goal and does not simply consist in letting oneself be a prey to instinct. Humanity has undergone a real process of maturation, which has led to a slow but demanding purification to attain a state of devotion to the other person. Two terms testify to this process: eros and agape; those who wish to regard them as antithetical are mistaken, because love, in essence, is a single reality even though at times one aspect rather than another is accentuated. The ardent desire for the other person, which may make us happy, must be transformed into concern for the other; so, “whoever wants to give love, must himself receive it as a gift” (7). The biblical faith brought with it something powerfully new: the God who is the Author of the whole of reality is Love; God loves man and among all the peoples chose Israel to love him and, through that people, to heal the whole of humanity: “this love of God may undoubtedly be characterized as eros, but it is also totally agape: gratuitous love, love that forgives. The divine image is communicated in man, so that Adam initially experiences loneliness, which leads him to emerge from his shell to seek the woman and become with her one flesh. “Eros is as if rooted in the very nature of man and (…) it leads man to marriage, to a bond characterized by uniqueness and finality” (11). The monogamous image of marriage corresponds to the monotheistic image of God. The significance of love is only fully revealed in Jesus Christ: in Him God himself pursues the lost sheep, suffering and lost humanity; in His death on the Cross is revealed the unfathomable Being of God, who comes towards man to lift him up again and save him. In Jesus Christ, love for God and love for our neighbour become possible and finally united; if no one has ever seen God in Himself, nonetheless He has made Himself known in the history of Love that is the Bible. Even in the course of time, even today, God comes towards us in a new way: He loves us, and enables us to see and experience His love. From this experience of God springs the decision to love the other person. (18). PART TWO – Caritas. THE CHURCH’S PRACTICE OF LOVE. “The love of our neighbour rooted in the love of God is first and foremost a task for each individual believer, but it is also a task for the entire ecclesial community” (20). The Church must practice love at all its levels: from the universal to the particular dimension, right down to the local community. Now, the awareness of this task has always prompted Christians to organise themselves to offer an organized community service; from the times of the Acts of the Apostles to our own day the exercise of charity has been the object of care and attention, to the point of being posed as an essential sphere of the Church’s action ( diakonia), alongside the proclamation of the Word ( kerygma-martyria) and the administration of the Sacraments ( leiturghia). The Church is conscious of being the family of God in the world: “in this family there must be no one who suffers from the lack of necessities. At the same time, however, caritas-agape transcends the frontiers of the Church” (25), indicating the universality of love. The commitment to charity does not diminish that to justice: if the disciples of Christ must frequently assume responsibility for the relief of urgent needs, they ought, at the same time, to strive to solve the causes of moral and material poverty, according to the prescriptions of Catholic social doctrine. This teaches that temporal realities have their autonomy and, therefore, the just order of society and the State is the central task of politics; but it also attests that it wishes to “contribute to the purification of reason and help ensure that what is just may, here and now, be recognised and then also be realized” (28). Benedict XVI attributes a great deal of importance to the Church’s social doctrine, recognizing its wider task of forming consciences, so that the needs of justice may become comprehensible and politically realizable. “The immediate task to be fulfilled for a just order of society is, on the other hand, the particular task of the lay faithful. As citizens of the State, they are called to participate in person in public life” (29).
