I just finished reading Pope Benedict XVI's first Encyclical letter entitled Deus Caritas Est and I have to say that it may contain some of the most profound thoughts on love and christian charity/social action that I've ever read.
The Holy Father's love for the church and for humanity truly shines through in this, his first Encyclical Letter to the Church.
I don't want to try and condense what he wrote down to a small blog post for a few reasons. 1. I can't, he said to many profound things and I am still thinking through them, and 2. It's really long and it took me forever to read it.
So I will simply post the link here and put a couple of my favorite quotes from the letter below. I would encourage you all to take the time to read it. For those who are fearful of Catholics (namely my family) don't worry it doesn't get really Catholicy until the conclusion.
I do have to admit that there were some things that I didn't agree 100% with, but they were so close to what I think I was willing to give the ol' Padre the benefit of the doubt.
Here is the link:
Pope Benedict's First Encyclical Letter: Deus Caritas Est
Some of my favorite quotes:
"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." Intro 1:2
"Yet it is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves: it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul, who loves." I 5:2
"...the good pastor must be rooted in contemplation. Only in this way will he be able to take upon himself the needs of others and make them his own..." I 7:3
"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." I 14:1
"The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word." II 22:1
"The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice."
II 28a:5
"The Church can never be exempted from practising charity as an organized activity of believers, and on the other hand, there will never be a situation where the charity of each individual Christian is unnecessary, because in addition to justice man needs, and will always need, love."
II 29:3
"...it is very important that the Church's charitable activity maintains all of its splendour and does not become just another form of social assistance." II 31:1
"Whoever loves Christ loves the Church, and desires the Church to be increasingly the image and instrument of the love which flows from Christ." II 33:1
"our crying out is, as it was for Jesus on the Cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power." II 38:1
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Monday, January 02, 2006
It happened again...
The first time it happened I thought about posting, but by the time I got back to my apartment I decided that it wasn't significant enough to post about. Well, it happened again and so I've decided to post about it.
So what exactly is it? It... is this:
I went to the grocery store to buy some groceries and was filled with an overwhelming sense of disgust and betrayal. Not at people or the store, but at myself.
Like I said, this isn't the first time it has happened, and so I can't merely shrug it off as good old fashioned liberal guilt. I have to think about it, I have to deal with it, but how? Everyone has to buy groceries don't they?
The question is how do we buy groceries without participating in the sinful cycle that we call capitalism? How do we purchase milk without supporting the system that screws poor dairy farmers while huge coorporations get richer? How do I buy apples without supporting apple farmers who pay migrant farm workers wages that aren't enough to feed a dog on?
Yes, there are a few options like free-trade coffee (but I don't drink coffee), but not enough and these options are usually expensive. So how do I do these things while one a very limited grad school student budget?
And why do i feel this guilt when I buy groceries and not when I buy books or pay for my cell phone? I know these aren't exactly the same but they're close enough.
How do I stop supporting big business that does nothing but give poor people the shaft. And yet, if big business were to be completely eliminated then millions of people would be out of jobs and there would be even more people in poverty.
Is socialism the answer? How about communism? A drastic overhaul of capitalsim? Should I treat this like the "meat sacrificed to idols" in scripture? Should I stop asking questions and delight in ignorance? I'm not sure. I'm not educated economically or politically enough to give an intelligent answer or even know the full extent of the problem.
All I know is when I go to the grocery store I get disgusted and feel like I am betraying all of my convictions just by buying milk and vegtables.
I don't have an answer, nor do I have a soap-box to stand on, all I know is it's something I think about a lot and so I put it out there for you all to think about with me.
Shalom
So what exactly is it? It... is this:
I went to the grocery store to buy some groceries and was filled with an overwhelming sense of disgust and betrayal. Not at people or the store, but at myself.
Like I said, this isn't the first time it has happened, and so I can't merely shrug it off as good old fashioned liberal guilt. I have to think about it, I have to deal with it, but how? Everyone has to buy groceries don't they?
The question is how do we buy groceries without participating in the sinful cycle that we call capitalism? How do we purchase milk without supporting the system that screws poor dairy farmers while huge coorporations get richer? How do I buy apples without supporting apple farmers who pay migrant farm workers wages that aren't enough to feed a dog on?
Yes, there are a few options like free-trade coffee (but I don't drink coffee), but not enough and these options are usually expensive. So how do I do these things while one a very limited grad school student budget?
And why do i feel this guilt when I buy groceries and not when I buy books or pay for my cell phone? I know these aren't exactly the same but they're close enough.
How do I stop supporting big business that does nothing but give poor people the shaft. And yet, if big business were to be completely eliminated then millions of people would be out of jobs and there would be even more people in poverty.
Is socialism the answer? How about communism? A drastic overhaul of capitalsim? Should I treat this like the "meat sacrificed to idols" in scripture? Should I stop asking questions and delight in ignorance? I'm not sure. I'm not educated economically or politically enough to give an intelligent answer or even know the full extent of the problem.
All I know is when I go to the grocery store I get disgusted and feel like I am betraying all of my convictions just by buying milk and vegtables.
I don't have an answer, nor do I have a soap-box to stand on, all I know is it's something I think about a lot and so I put it out there for you all to think about with me.
Shalom
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