Pope on love? Not the topic of alleged hardliner

Human nature of ‘eros’
In this encyclical, Benedict expressly “wished to show the humanity of faith, of which ‘eros’ forms part,” and encouraged men and women to say “yes” to their bodily nature created by God. In his encyclical, in fact, Benedict rejects a polarization of “eros” (desiring love) and “agape” (self-giving love), as if eros were pagan and agape Christian, and argues instead that these two types of love are intermingled. “Eros,” he says, “is rooted in man’s very nature.”

At the same time, Benedict seeks to rescue love from cheap counterfeits. Love can simply be another name for selfishness and desire, or a fleeting sentiment of attraction. Benedict endeavors to get beyond shallow notions of love to reach its deeper meaning.  To this end, Benedict draws from distinctions made by the Anglican apologist and literary scholar C. S. Lewis in his 1960 classic “The Four Loves.”  To become fully human, Benedict declares, “eros” must mature into “agape” — the Christian notion of charity or self-giving to others, modeled on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice. It isn’t enough for us to “feel” love, we must “choose” love as a free decision.

Charitable nature of love
The new encyclical is divided into two parts. The first deals with the nature of love — what it means and what it doesn’t. The second part of the letter, however, deals with the charitable nature of the Church as a community of believers.  Love “cannot remain as something merely individual, but, on the contrary, must also become an essential act of the Church as community.”

Reaching out to the vulnerable and needy — Benedict declares — is not optional.  Christian charitable outreach stems from the very nature of the Church. Belief is not belief unless expressed in love for God and for others. Christ’s prediction that his followers would be known for their love must bear fruit in real, practical action.

Active aid in the form of hospitals, lazarettos, soup kitchens and care for the homeless makes up an integral part of the Christian tradition. Yet such aid, Benedict argues, goes well beyond mere philanthropy.

Charitable commitment not only alleviates human misery, but also makes God visible in the world. God himself pushes us in our interior to compassion, and in this way we take God himself to the suffering world.

There will be critics, but a message of hope
Critics may find Benedict’s first encyclical overly lofty.  Others may wish that he had touched on more media-friendly hot button issues, such as sexual ethics, contraception, abortion or bioethical questions.

Still, all will undoubtedly concede that in this letter Benedict has gone to the heart of the Christian message, both in its essential grounding and in its more practical consequences and challenges.

Benedict has used his first big teaching moment to convey a message of hope. Rather than an “everybody get in line” message, the encyclical focuses on the love of God that all of us are called both to accept and to imitate.

If, as many suspect, this first encyclical sets forth Benedict’s papal “mission statement,” we can expect more surprises as this pontificate continues.

NBC Vatican analyst Father Thomas D. Williams, L.C., is dean of theology at Rome’s Regina Apostolorum University.

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