Thanks to Gerry, I’ve had a read of Pope Benedict’s “Encyclical letter 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” (which was going to be the post title, but it might be a touch wordy). It’s a very worthwhile read - you won’t agree with everything but it’s worth wading through (as Gerry said). But I thought this quote might be worth highlighting, in relation to recent conversation:
” Yet eros and agape—ascending love and descending love—can never be completely separated. The more the two, in their different aspects, find a proper unity in the one reality of love, the more the true nature of love in general is realized. Even if eros is at first mainly covetous and ascending, a fascination for the great promise of happiness, in drawing near to the other, it is less and less concerned with itself, increasingly seeks the happiness of the other, is concerned more and more with the beloved, bestows itself and wants to “be there for” the other. The element of agape thus enters into this love, for otherwise eros is impoverished and even loses its own nature. On the other hand, man cannot live by oblative, descending love alone. He cannot always give, he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift.”
Your thoughts are sought.
One Comment
Ask the BEP. “where is the love?”
need some kindness from above?
I can’t help thinking that our conversation on this topic has boiled down to a perfect paradox.
I think there’s something real about the idea that we need to receive to be able to sustain giving too… but what does that look like?
Is love governed by the laws of decay like everything else in our fallen world… or do you make more love by paying it forward?
If one person performed a loving act for another, and they performed the same act for someone else… 20 people later would there be the same amount of love in it?
Or do we need God to top us up all the time?