The Mystery of Love

As we have learned from the philosophers, and from the Pope Emeritus, there are different kinds of love. You may want to go back and look at my comments on Deus Caritas Est and Caritas in Veritate.

Recently, I have been observing middle-aged and even older friends experiencing a renewal of love in their good marriages. This has been a revelation to me, as I have not seen such rediscoveries of bridal love among couples for a long time. Sometimes, one sees this renewal in very old couples, like my parents, who at 92 and 87, love and respect each other openly more than ever before in their long marriage of 67 years.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it takes a long time for couples to rediscover that first love, after years of trials, tribulations, sufferings, illness, financial difficulties, problems with children and so on. These episodes, and, indeed, crises, either bring a couple closer together, or separate them forever. A couple must face suffering together, no longer looking merely at each other, but at the day that life has brought them, the struggle they must face together to overcome successfully.

I have witnessed women truly becoming helpmates, as God created a wife to be--a servant who is cherished and respected above all other women on earth. I have seen men become real protectors and spiritual leaders.

But, the real key to this rediscovery of bridal love must be the central love of God, the finding of the God Within, the awareness of the Indwelling of the Trinity in ones' self and in one's mate.

When a person finally gets in touch with the Trinity Who dwells within, life and love bubble up in a new fountain of grace. When both the man and wife discover God within, the chemistry becomes almost magical. This spiritual awareness in the couple is the great mystery of love--finally, the man and the woman have become truly one as God intended.

When God becomes the heart of the marriage, the heart of both hearts, bridal love is renewed.

For those who keep faithful to their marriage contract, this bridal love will happen if they keep God's commandments, especially the first one.

No other gods can replace God in a marriage, neither money, or status, or success, or possessions, or even children. The couple become one when God is first in each of their hearts, minds, imaginations, memories and wills.

This type of love is only possible when the couple share sanctifying grace. This type of love is only possible when the couple is traveling together towards God, attempting to bring each other to heaven, to the fullness of life in God.

And, this is only possible when love transcends all else, becoming, truly, agape love.

Only a man and a woman can become one in Christ.

Only a man and a woman can experience the renewal of bridal love.

Only in and with God can this bridal love occur, that first love, which renews itself in Christ until death parts the couple.

But, this love lasts as that of brother and sister in Christ in heaven, the real love of heaven, agape love.

Sacrificial love is another name for bridal love. And, yes, it is passionate, not only in the body, but in the soul. Zeal for each other's salvation marks this good love.

Those who experience this mystery of love renewed bring life into the Church in a way others cannot. This is the gift of true marriage to the Church-marriage in Christ, marriage according to God's plan.

I have never experienced living with a husband for years and years and coming to this renewal of mutual bridal love. But, I do understand and experience the bridal love for Christ, as His bride, as a single person, who has been blessed with such graces to know that Christ loves me eternally in a special way. He loves me as a woman in a unique contract of commitment and service where He leads me.

Singles can experience bridal love in one way-through their total giving of themselves to God directly, and not through another person. This is our call. It is another way to the discovery of the God within, the Indwelling of the Trinity.

God never denies love. He shapes all holy loves to His will. That is the mystery of love.

An Aside in The Middle of A Series

The walk through Fides et Ratio is half-way accomplished. Caritas in Veritate comes next.

In the days gone by, encyclicals were read from the pulpit. With the coming of the printing press, encyclicals were made into pamphlets or little booklets and sold. This continued down to the present day, with one exception.

Many of the older encyclicals are out-of-print. I remember phoning a famous religious Catholic publishing house years ago for a copy of a 19th century encyclical and was told the house would no longer be printing that one, or any before the mid-20th century.

I was shocked, to be honest, that the one publishing company which had kept so many encyclicals in print was no longer committed to doing so.

Now, one has to look carefully for some encyclicals, all of which are infallible, of course, and not all of them are easily found online.

But here is a link to this excellent site, which I have used for this blog in the past.

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/

If you are a homeschooling mom or dad, this site would be an important part of your curriculum sourcing. Other papal and Vatican documents may be found here as well.

The other great source on this superb site is the list of councils and the canons of these councils.

If there are any infallible or interesting teachings you want to know, please go to this site.

Church Councils

1. The First General Council of Nicaea, 325

2. The First General Council of Constantinople, 381

3. The General Council of Ephesus, 431

4. The General Council of Chalcedon, 451

5. The Second General Council of Constantinople, 553

6. The Third General Council of Constantinople, 680-681

7. The Second General Council of Nicaea, 787

8. The Fourth General Council of Constantinople, 869-70

9. The First General Council of the Lateran, 1123

10. The Second General Council of the Lateran, 1139

11. The Third General Council of the Lateran, 1179

12. The Fourth General Council of the Lateran, 1215

13. The First General Council of Lyons, 1245

14. The Second General Council of Lyons, 1274

15. The General Council of Vienne, 1311-12

16. The General Council of Constance, 1414-18

17. The General Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence, 1431-45

18. The Fifth General Council of the Lateran, 1512-17

19. The General Council of Trent, 1545-63

20. The First General Council of the Vatican, 1869-70

21.Vatican II - 1962-1965

The Popes And The Poor

St. John Paul II and the Pope Emeritus spoke and wrote about the poor. St. John XXIII wrote and spoke about the poor. Pope Pius XII and Pope Leo XIII wrote and spoke about the poor.

But, some Catholics are not listening still to the cry of the poor in our societies. The care of the poor is not the business of government, primarily, but the business of the Church.

Speaking, reflecting on and helping the poor is not the stuff of liberal Catholics only.

I personally know several trad families who are generous to the poor. These good Catholics go beyond what the minimum is for answering the corporal works of mercy.

I praise them.

In Mater et Magistra, the very first encylical I read as a very young person, St. John XXIII states this:


55. But however extensive and far-reaching the influence of the State on the economy may be, it must never be exerted to the extent of depriving the individual citizen of his freedom of action. It must rather augment his freedom while effectively guaranteeing the protection of his essential personal rights. Among these is a man's right and duty to be primarily responsible for his own upkeep and that of his family. Hence every economic system must permit and facilitate the free development of productive activity.
56. Moreover, as history itself testifies with ever-increasing clarity, there can be no such thing as a well-ordered and prosperous society unless individual citizens and the State co-operate in the economy. Both sides must work together in harmony, and their respective efforts must be proportioned to the needs of the common good in the prevailing circumstances and conditions of human life.
57. Experience has shown that where personal initiative is lacking, political tyranny ensues and, in addition, economic stagnation in the production of a wide range of consumer goods and of services of the material and spiritual order—those, namely, which are in a great measure dependent upon the exercise and stimulus of individual creative talent.
58. Where, on the other hand, the good offices of the State are lacking or deficient, incurable disorder ensues: in particular, the unscrupulous exploitation of the weak by the strong. For men of this stamp are always in evidence, and, like cockle among the wheat, thrive in every land.

However, it must be said that there the heresies of the Protestant Work Ethic and the false idea of Providence blessings being seen in this world have crept into the consciousness of so many Catholics. I see it daily. In an effort not to fall into the heresy of socialism, too many Catholics deny the call to help the poor, which is a personal call as well as a societal one.

23. As for those who possess not the gifts of fortune, they are taught by the Church that in God's sight poverty is no disgrace, and that there is nothing to be ashamed of in earning their bread by labor. This is enforced by what we see in Christ Himself, who, "whereas He was rich, for our sakes became poor";(18) and who, being the Son of God, and God Himself, chose to seem and to be considered the son of a carpenter - nay, did not disdain to spend a great part of His life as a carpenter Himself. "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?"(19)

24. From contemplation of this divine Model, it is more easy to understand that the true worth and nobility of man lie in his moral qualities, that is, in virtue; that virtue is, moreover, the common inheritance of men, equally within the reach of high and low, rich and poor; and that virtue, and virtue alone, wherever found, will be followed by the rewards of everlasting happiness. Nay, God Himself seems to incline rather to those who suffer misfortune; for Jesus Christ calls the poor "blessed";(20) He lovingly invites those in labor and grief to come to Him for solace;(21) and He displays the tenderest charity toward the lowly and the oppressed. These reflections cannot fail to keep down the pride of the well-to-do, and to give heart to the unfortunate; to move the former to be generous and the latter to be moderate in their desires. Thus, the separation which pride would set up tends to disappear, nor will it be difficult to make rich and poor join hands in friendly concord. 

Too many Catholics in America, as I have written on this blog, have middle class sensibilities. They do not understand that at any moment they could fall through the cracks and be very poor.


There are too many Catholics who cannot accept strangers or those who do not fit into their social set.
We are not judged on loving those who love us, but loving those who do not, at least at first, love us.

 I need to forgive almost daily those who judge me, those who cannot trust someone who is poor, who is not situated comfortably. Even today, again, I met prejudice through someone who "does not know my family" and would never trust "someone who is online".

Forgive and forget...but we are not on the same wavelength and I cannot convince her otherwise. She is the one who closed a door to friendship in the Lord. God bless her.

At some time in the near future. in America and in Europe, there will be social and financial upheaval as we have never seen before in our lifetime.

Will you turn away someone at your door? Will you turn away from personally helping the poor?

My mother remembers her great-grandmother from Bohemia feeding tramps on her back porch during the recession. The old woman could not speak English but she made sandwiches and passed out beverages.

God blessed her with sons who became priests,  all but two, and all her daughters became nuns out of eight or nine children.

There is a connection.

Perhaps more than any other recent pope, Pope Francis speaks of the poor readily. We need this teaching right now. 

Sometimes, I hear TLM people say it is not their problem to help the poor, but the governments. Leo XIII and Pius XII would disagree with them.

to be continued....

Continuing with the Pope Emeritus

Moving towards the section on love, Benedict develops ideas which came to fruition in his encyclical on love, examined on this blog. Follow the tags under love, marriage, and socialism.

The sacred and the so-called profane, that is spirit and matter, were redeemed on the Cross. Love, as the Pope Emeritus points out, must include not only the spiritual relationship with God, but real involvement in the lives of others. Whether we are married or not, this involvement demands our time and energies in order to make love real.

Benedict notes that love means a fundamental "yes" to another person.  He quotes Pieper, a great author I taught in days past,writing that love states to another person, "it is good that you exist". This affirmation of a person's goodness and the commitment which follows indicates a moving out of one's self into love.

The existence of another person is confirmed, writes the Pope Emeritus, in love.

How wonderful for those who experience this. Some of us have not experienced the intimate love which should accompany a good marriage. Some of us have experienced love in friendship. Some have experienced love through parents.

For those who have not, this love becomes an act of faith and an act of hope. I believe God loves me, therefore, I am loved and can love, despite a lack of intimate love in my life from a human.

Christ loves us intimately. That is one of the messages of the Cross.

The Pope Emeritus notes that by saying yes to another person, one affirms one's self as well. How wonderful. The person who loves, even in unrequited love, experiences an affirmation of being, as one recognizes that love is from God.

The happiness of love, therefore, expands from this mutual affirmation. And, as Benedict points out, love, by nature, is creative. For a married couple, this creation most often is seen in the children born of the couple. But, not always is love expressed in such a way. A loving marriage may be infertile, for God's reasons, or by choice.

Such marriages then become a force of creativity for the community, for the Church, such as that of the Maritains.

All love affirms existence and is creative by nature, by the spirit. And, in this love, one wants to sacrifice, to die for the other.

I feel sadness for those who have never been open to love. They live in the shadow of grace and life.

Today, contemplating the Cross, one sees love in action.

Delineating Personalism

The editor of the Wanderer and another gentleman scholar in an interview were using the term "personalism" which I have criticized on this blog as a form of subjectivism. However, the term when referring to political systems means something a bit different and perhaps some clarifications are necessary. There are, in other words, good and bad personalism, as the term is vague and too encompassing.

I would have used a different term in the debate, but I think those involved were pointing to the latest developments of the use of the term.

Augustine and Aquinas taught the uniqueness of human creatures over all over creatures and the personal relationship each human has, because of the soul and the intellect, with God.  Also, because there are Three Persons in One God, the Personhood of each may be stressed as separate and true.

So far, so good. The personalism of Aquinas and Augustine would have been the basis for Maritain's idea of the sanctity of the person in various systems of governance, as against communism and socialism, both which deny the sanctity and hierarchy of personhood.

Now, the isms, such as communism and socialism, deny the importance of personalism. Most people understand this.

However, the long and excellent philosophical aspect of personalism in the Catholic Church has been changed in recent times.

The problem is the locus of understanding the importance of self in reference to God. That we all have a character which is unique and a unique soul and the fact that the person is never a means to an end, that is, cannot be used or manipulated for either a government or another person, is clear to most of us.

But, the problem is the almost universal misunderstanding of self-fulfillment. The idea that a person can be fulfilled outside of God is simply false. Without a personal understanding that each one gets an identity from God, first as creature, then as adopted daughters and sons, and then as friends, and finally as lovers, we cannot.be self-fulfilled. Period.

When Blessed John Paul II and the Pope Emeritus spoke of self-fulfillment, they did not mean the understanding of the world and many liberal theologians, who claim that there is a natural fulfillment without grace.

No. Personalism must be based on the definitions given by the Catholic Church of what a person is, both pre-baptism and post-baptism. And, to add to the confusion of a lack of the traditional definitions of person coming from the great Church Fathers, is the denial of the need for grace.

On top of this, is the belief that men and women are the center of their individual lives, instead of God.

So, the bad personalism rests on a total separation of men and women from God. I suggest a keen reading of Benedict's Deus Caritas Est ,and my commentaries on it here and here and here.....

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/05/on-love-and-answer-to-socialism-part.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/05/love-and-church-against-socialism-part.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/05/catholic-parish-life-vs-socialism.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/05/eros-to-agape-and-caritas-continued.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/05/part-five-caritas-vs-socialism.html

Blessed John Paul II on Perfection

Obedience and orthodoxy first, then perfection....

17. We do not know how clearly the young man in the Gospel understood the profound and challenging import of Jesus' first reply: "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments". But it is certain that the young man's commitment to respect all the moral demands of the commandments represents the absolutely essential ground in which the desire for perfection can take root and mature, the desire, that is, for the meaning of the commandments to be completely fulfilled in following Christ. Jesus' conversation with the young man helps us to grasp the conditions for the moral growth of man, who has been called to perfection: the young man, having observed all the commandments, shows that he is incapable of taking the next step by himself alone. To do so requires mature human freedom ("If you wish to be perfect") and God's gift of grace ("Come, follow me").

Perfection demands that maturity in self-giving to which human freedom is called. Jesus points out to the young man that the commandments are the first and indispensable condition for having eternal life; on the other hand, for the young man to give up all he possesses and to follow the Lord is presented as an invitation: "If you wish...". These words of Jesus reveal the particular dynamic of freedom's growth towards maturity, and at the same time they bear witness to the fundamental relationship between freedom and divine law. Human freedom and God's law are not in opposition; on the contrary, they appeal one to the other. The follower of Christ knows that his vocation is to freedom. "You were called to freedom, brethren" (Gal 5:13), proclaims the Apostle Paul with joy and pride. But he immediately adds: "only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another" (ibid.). The firmness with which the Apostle opposes those who believe that they are justified by the Law has nothing to do with man's "liberation" from precepts. On the contrary, the latter are at the service of the practice of love: "For he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the Law. The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself' " (Rom 13:8-9). Saint Augustine, after speaking of the observance of the commandments as being a kind of incipient, imperfect freedom, goes on to say: "Why, someone will ask, is it not yet perfect? Because 'I see in my members another law at war with the law of my reason'... In part freedom, in part slavery: not yet complete freedom, not yet pure, not yet whole, because we are not yet in eternity. In part we retain our weakness and in part we have attained freedom. All our sins were destroyed in Baptism, but does it follow that no weakness remained after iniquity was destroyed? Had none remained, we would live without sin in this life. But who would dare to say this except someone who is proud, someone unworthy of the mercy of our deliverer?... Therefore, since some weakness has remained in us, I dare to say that to the extent to which we serve God we are free, while to the extent that we follow the law of sin, we are still slaves".²⁷

More later-from Veritatis Splendor