Dr. Richard DeClue
During the month of February, St. Valentine’s Day looms large. We are inundated with decorations of red and pink hearts, candies stamped with messages of affection, and other symbols of love. Of course, one may ask (with the Haddaway song made infamous by Saturday Night Live): “What is love?” Does our culture exhibit a proper understanding of the nature of love?
With the recent passing of Pope Benedict XVI, I would like to draw upon his work to help answer the question of what love is. Love was a central theme for his pontificate. His very first encyclical was entitled God is Love (Deus Caritas Est). His last encyclical also dealt with love (or more precisely, its highest form, charity): Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate). In between those two encyclicals, Pope Benedict XVI also issued a Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation concerned with love: The Sacrament of Charity (Sacramentum Caritatis), referring to the Eucharist. While we can’t possibly give an exhaustive treatment of those documents here, I would like to highlight some particularly poignant points that can help us reflect on the true meaning of love during this month where superficial (or even false) notions of love surround us.
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