This past weekend the Bishop of Rome visited the resting place of the remains of St Augustine if Hippo, St Peter's of the Golden Sky in Pavia, Italy. He reiterated the theme of love, truly lived. B-16 never tires of saying it, and I never tire of repeating it.
Love for God and others is essential.
"Before the tomb of Augustine," Benedict XVI said, "I wish to again spiritually offer to the Church and to the world my first encyclical, which contains precisely this central message of the Gospel: 'Deus caritas est,' God is love."This is "the message that St. Augustine continues repeating to the entire Church," the Pope added. "Love is the soul of the life of the Church and its pastoral action."Only one who lives the personal experience of love for the Lord is capable of carrying out the task of guiding and accompanying others in the path of following Christ.
"I repeat this truth to you as the Bishop of Rome; meanwhile, with an ever renewed joy, I accept this truth along with you as a Christian." The Holy Father underlined: "To serve Christ is, above all, a question of love. The Church is not a mere organization of mutual encounters, nor is it, on the other hand, the sum of individuals who live a private religion.
Love for God and others is essential.
"Before the tomb of Augustine," Benedict XVI said, "I wish to again spiritually offer to the Church and to the world my first encyclical, which contains precisely this central message of the Gospel: 'Deus caritas est,' God is love."This is "the message that St. Augustine continues repeating to the entire Church," the Pope added. "Love is the soul of the life of the Church and its pastoral action."Only one who lives the personal experience of love for the Lord is capable of carrying out the task of guiding and accompanying others in the path of following Christ.
"I repeat this truth to you as the Bishop of Rome; meanwhile, with an ever renewed joy, I accept this truth along with you as a Christian." The Holy Father underlined: "To serve Christ is, above all, a question of love. The Church is not a mere organization of mutual encounters, nor is it, on the other hand, the sum of individuals who live a private religion.
"The Church is a community of persons that believe in the God of Jesus Christ and commit themselves to live in the world the commandment of love which he left us."It is, therefore, a community in which one is educated in love, and this education comes not despite but rather through the events of life."
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