ELIJAH HEARD GOD IN A TINY WHISPERING SOUND
Sponsored
Catholic365 is sponsored by
Road to Purity
In the past week, I have written about faith and hope. Naturally, love is expected next. But here we have God’s love, completely unexpected. Journey alongside as we take to heart the first part of the encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est: God is Love.
St. John tells us, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8) “Deus caritas est in Latin. This is the name of an encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, written in 2005.
Love is indeed “ecstasy,” not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self toward its liberation through self-giving, and thus toward authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 6)
The truest form of love is agape in Greek, and it is this love that goes beyond the body, beyond the self. It is sacrificial love. This love is most purely manifest in God, and is most perfectly embodied in Jesus Christ.
God’s Love Incarnate
We have all heard of or memorized John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son…” Pope Benedict describes agape at its very finest: the love of God the Father:
It is God Himself Who goes in search of the “stray sheep”, a suffering and lost humanity. When Jesus speaks in His 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 embrace his prodigal son, these are no mere words: they constitute an explanation of His very being and activity. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 12)
These vivid images of God show His character as loving, forgiving, and embracing. This is not the classic majestic, kingly, or even wrathful God portrayed in the Old Testament. This is a God of love.
(Jesus’) death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against Himself in which He gives Himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 12)
Furthermore, the Pope describes the ultimate love experience that we can have with God as found in receiving Communion:
Eucharist is the ultimate expression of love. We now have ‘union with God through sharing in Jesus' self-gift, sharing in His Body and Blood.’ (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 13)
Our Holy Eucharist, so precious to us, is so much more than we can imagine. We have learned and experienced Communion as a special gift that unites us to Jesus. This mystical union goes so much further:
This sacramental “mysticism” is social in character, for in sacramental communion, I become one with the Lord, like all the other communicants…Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to Him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards Him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians. We become “one body”, completely joined in a single existence. Love of God and love of neighbour are now truly united: God incarnate draws us all to Himself. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 14)
All of my life, I have called this Communion. Little did I know that is what it really means: Communion with Jesus and all who love Him. It is a very powerful revelation. It gives a very clear picture of the Church as the Body of Christ.
Eucharistic communion includes the reality both of being loved and of loving others in turn. A Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 14)
Love of neighbor
Philia is a friendship or “band of brothers” kind of love. It is both personal and communal. But God expects us to move toward agape love of neighbor. Agape is sacrificial, giving, generous love.
St. John admonishes us: “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 Pope Benedict encourages us,
St. 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. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 17)
This all can seem to be unattainable, just plain impossible, and it is – without the power of God. Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Pope Benedict exhorts us:
Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible…in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 17)
Through my worship, prayer, and giving myself in love to God, He fills me with ever more of Himself. After all, He loved me first and drew me to Himself. Filled then with his love,
Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend…Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 17)
My neighbor does not just need a donation of money, clothing, or food. My neighbor needs to be truly loved. After all, isn’t my own greatest need to be truly loved? So is theirs.
So now love thy neighbor:
No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment,” but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within...Love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. (Pope Benedict, paragraph 18)
We are called to love, and it is more than a commandment, it is a natural outflowing of God’s immeasurable overflowing love. We cannot contain Him.
Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God…It makes us a “we” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is all in all. (Pope Benedict XVI, paragraph 18)
References:
Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, Vatican, 2005, accessed 8-27-2023, https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html
Loreen Marie Derry is a Roman Catholic who worshiped in Charismatic Roman Catholic communities as a teen and in college. She earned a Bachelor's degree double major in Theology and Psychology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Master's in Clinical Psychology from Slippery Rock University. For a time, she lived a life of wandering in faith, and then she and her husband found spiritual renewal in a Charismatic Protestant church that was very Spirit-filled and focused on the Word of God. In 2018, Loreen and her husband found a home at Ascension Catholic Community in Melbourne, FL. In 2020, Loreen walked beside her husband as a sponsor in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Being so inspired by this process and returning to the Church of her youth, she has continued reading theology and inspirational writings. As a result of this journey of faith, Loreen now writes devotionals, articles about faith, and poetry reflections. The focus of her works are spiritual reading for for new and renewed Catholic followers of Jesus Christ.
