The question is whether the love of the Lord leads to the love of others? I accept this question, since loving others without an appreciation for the Lord is difficult.
The final cause is to bring the love of the Lord to others. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the word is the invitation I would like to extend with the present Encyclical” (page 93). When a man experiences love from the Lord and shares it with others, then he is bringing about the light and influence of the Lord in the world. Thus, because loving the Lord is the goal of man’s existence, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The material cause is the person’s ability to love the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Love is possible, and we are able to practice love because we are created in the image of God” (93). According to the Book of Genesis 1: 27, “Et creavit Deus hominem ad imaginem suam : ad imaginem Dei creavit illum, masculum et feminam creavit eos." – "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We are created by the Lord to be loving in the same creative way that He is loving. Everyone has the ability to fall in love and everyone should give thanks to God for that experience. Thus, because the Lord gives us the ability and power to love, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The two formal causes of love are “eros” and “agape.” Pope Benedict XVI writes, “The Bible and the Church’s Tradition” have “led us to consider two fundamental words: “eros,” as a term to indicate world love, and “agape,” referring to love grounded in and shaped by faith” (23). The term “eros” is defined as “the Greek god of love; pleasure-directed life instincts” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966, p. 772). We love nutrition, recreation and reproduction. The term “agape” is defined as “fellowship originating among the early Christians and including prayers, songs, the reading of Scripture, and offerings for the poor” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966, p. 39). We love to sing with a crowd and we love to help others without any expectations. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “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 is realized” (24). Saying grace before meals and asking the Lord to help us help others are two activities that keeps our love strong and “proper.” Thus, because asking the Lord for help with “eros” and “agape,” the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The principal agent of love is the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4: 16) These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the hear of Christians faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny” (7). The Lord is love and designed us to experience His love and to share His love with others. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “God is the absolute and ultimate source of all being” (31). The Lord brings us about in existence and also gives us a job to do while existing: to be loving toward Him and others. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Love is divine because it comes from God and unites us to God” (46). A person who experiences life-enriching, genuine love can detect that there is something divine in the genuine love. Thus, because He is the source and principal agent of love, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The preparing agent cause is to experience the love of the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love” (93). Faith is the belief and acknowledgement that the Lord is a real Person and He taught, healed and suffered so that we can believe in Him and acknowledge that He is loving toward man and all of creation. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom He gives Himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself” (37). Loving the Lord leads us to love those whom He loves, such as His angels and saints. It is impossible to love Him alone while ignoring His mother, his Apostles and His crusader knights. Thus, because faith prepares us to appreciate the Lord and He wants us to love “those to whom He gives Himself,” the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The assisting agent is one’s neighbor. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Anyone who needs me, and whom I can help, is my neighbor” (39). The term “love” is defined as “the attraction, desire, or affection felt for a person who inspires delight or admiration or elicits tenderness or benevolence” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966, p. 1340). If a person feels the love inspired by a spouse, then the “eros” love will become delightful and tender. And if the person feels the love triggered by someone in need, then the “agape” love will become benevolent and focused on ways to be helpful. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “The concept of ‘neighbor’ is now universalized, yet it remains concrete. Despite being extended to all mankind, it is not reduced to a a generic, abstract and undemanding expression of love, but calls for my own practical commitment here and now” (39). The feeling of love and benevolence to another person in need gives us the ability to love needy people around the world. However, “agape” love and benevolence are inspired by “concrete” needs “here and now.” It is easy to help one’s family and friends and difficult to help neighbors who are suffering. Thus, because a love for the Lord inspires us to feel benevolent toward others in need, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
Humility is the instrumental agent that allows a person to love those he can help. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “The proper way of serving others leads to humility. The one who serves does not consider himself superior to the one served, however miserable the situation at the moment may be” (87). A man who properly loves his spouse will acknowledge that the spouse is fully human just like he is. And if he feels benevolent toward a neighbor in need, he must acknowledge that the needy person is also fully human and that needs and privations does not decrease the neighbor’s dignity. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Christ took the lowest place in the world, the Cross, and by this radical humility He redeemed us and constantly comes to our aid” (87). The Lord is the role model for love and humility. While He was getting nailed to the cross, He did not forget that the people hammering the nails were fully human and worthy of love and respect. Thus, because love is the tool by which we can help a neighbor, and because humility is the tool by which we remember that our neighbor is fully human, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
Pope Benedict XVI is a competent expert who gives us good advice. He writes, “Love can be ‘commanded’ because it has first been given” (38). The Lord can tell us to be loving, because He made us and gave us a job to do. We want to be helpful and loving and that is what He wants from us. And if a person chooses not to be loving and helpful, then that person is not doing what the Lord wants and will choose to become miserable. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Idem belle ate idem nolle” – “to want the same thing and to reject the same thing” was recognized by antiquity as the authentic content of love.” Two people who love each other are similar and have the same wants and hates. And if a person wish to be friends with the Lord, then he must figure out what the Lord loves and hates. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God” (45). A person lacking a real love for the Lord will have trouble properly loving his family, friends and neighbors with humility and respect. Thus, because the Lord command us to be loving, wants us to be benevolent, shows us how to be humble and respectful, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
History shows the value of loving and depending on the Lord. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Immersed like everyone else in the dramatic complexity of historical events, Christians remain unshakably certain that God is our Father and loves us, even when His silence remains incomprehensible” (92). Everyone has good days and bad days and during the bad days, we might pray to the Lord and ask Him to intervene and fix things. But prayers are not answered immediately and is it difficult to understand why He remains silent. Pope Benedict XVI refers to I Kings 18: 27 and writes, “Perhaps He is asleep” (92). When stuck in a bad day where prays seem useless, the Pope reminds us to have hope. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Faith, hope and charity go together. Hope is practice through patience which continues to do good in the face of apparent failure” (92). Faith is the acceptance of the Lord’s love for each person and the belief that He thought of each person before the beginning of time. Hopefully He has a better opinion of a person than the person has of himself when he feels like a failure. Thus, because the Lord is “our Father and loves us” even when He seems silent and distant which gives us hope, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The two kinds of love, eros and agape, are analogous to an event in the Bible. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “In the account of Jacob’s ladder, the Fathers of the Church saw this inseparable connection between ascending and descending love, between eros which seeks God and agape which passes on the gift received” (25). A focused, eros love of the Lord is like climbing a ladder and enables us to become tender with Him. After all, He loved us first. Then a general, benevolent love for suffering neighbors is like climbing down a ladder and becoming helpful. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Saint Paul, who was borne aloft to the most exalted mysteries of God, having descended, he was able to become all things to all men” (26; ref. 2 Cor 12: 2-4). St. Paul had a focused, tender love of the Lord and benevolent care for others. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage” (34). The Lord’s love for each person is stronger than the strongest monogamous marriage. If a husband stays loyal to his wife, and if a wife stays permanent with her husband, then they must really love each other. And that’s how the Lord loves each person, in a loyal and permanent way. Pope Benedict XVI makes an interesting observation about how the similarity between the love of the Lord and the love in a permanent marriage is expressed in the Bible alone. “This close connection between “eros” and marriage in the Bible has practically no equivalent in extra-biblical literature” (34). Thus, because appreciating the Lord’s work in a person’s life allows him to become benevolent, and because His love for each person is loyal and permanent, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
A sign that a person has genuine love for his family and a benevolent love toward his neighbor is his wish to help widows, orphans, prisoners and sick people. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “As the years went by and the Church spread further afield, the exercise of charity” became “love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind” (55) Catholic groups who love the Lord have ministries to help others. For example, Columban missionaries serve in fifteen countries, helping people “whose lives are marked by hardship” (April 2026 Bulletin). Franciscans are building schools in Russia, Ukraine and 117 other countries. And the Cabrini Missionaries run orphanages in seventeen countries. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “The great Christian writer Tertullian (died 220 AD) described the Church of Rome as ‘presiding in charity’” (56). Christians from the beginning with the Apostles served “orphans, widows, and the sick” (56). Thus, because the love of the Lord inspires us to be helpful to widows, orphans, prisoners and sick people, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The motive for loving the Lord and one’s neighbor comes from the Bible. Pope Benedict XVI writes “The criterion inspiring [our] activity should be Saint Paul’s statement in the Second Letter to the Corinthians 5:14: ‘the love of Christ urges us on’” (86). The Lord motivates and encourages us to love our family, friends and neighbors. Further, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “We all have the same fundamental motivation and toward the same goal: a true humanism which acknowledges that man is made in the image of God and wants to help him live in a way consonant with that dignity” (77). A person with a proper, tender, and benevolent love will understand that everyone is designed to resemble God Who is humble and loving. The Lord is loving and encourages us to be the same. Thus, because the Lord “urges us on” and motivates us to promote “a true humanism,” the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
The passion of love and attraction that person feels toward the Lord and toward his family and friends is a proof of the power of God. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “The best defense of God and man consists precisely in love” (82). A person who rejects the opportunity to love an admirable person is destroying healthy relationships to the Lord and to his neighbors. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “He knows that the disdain for live is a disdain for God and man alike. It is an attempt to do without God” (82). A man is created by God and urged to love Him. If he rejects the creativity of God and downplays the urge to love the Lord, then he will not be genuinely helpful to his neighbors. Thus, because a proper passion of love proves the power of God leads to healthy relationships, the love of the Lord leads to the love of others.
I shall now review the fourteen reasons supporting my thesis. Hmm… All the reasons are good. I shall now freely choose my two favorite reasons. I like the material cause and the preparing agent. I shall now make a command expressing my choice. The love of the Lord leads to the love of others, because the Lord gives us the ability and power to love, and because loving the Lord leads us to love those whom He loves, such as His angels and saints.
There are five objections. First, "According to Friedrich Nietzsche, Christianity has poisoned eros" and spreads an unnecessary guilt for enjoying the sweet things in life (15). It seems that eros is bad, since eros alone “becomes poisonous” and boring (18). Pleasure-directed instincts alone lead to useful friendships that are temporary and hurtful. The response to the first objection is to say that a proper love of the Lord heals an isolated eros and gives it a new focus. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Love promises infinity” but “the way to attain this goal is not simply by submitting to instinct. Purification and growth in maturity are called for” (17). Practicing modesty and growing in personal strength downplays shame and highlights genuine love. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “They heal and restore eros to its true grandeur” (18).
Second, how "can we love God without seeing Him?" (40) Love is defined as the “affection felt for a person who inspires delight.” But how can someone who is absent inspire delight? In response, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “God is visible in a number of ways. In the love story recounted by the Bible, He comes towards us and seeks to win our hearts… He guided the nascent Church along her path. He encounters us ever anew in the men and women who reflect His presence… He has loved us first and He continues to do so” (42). Reading the Bible, studying Church history and meeting genuine Catholics are the ways to become delighted and feel affection for the Lord.
Third, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Can love be commanded” (40). To command someone to be loving and to say they should be loving are not polite ways to relate to another person. In response, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “No longer is it a question, then, of a ‘commandment’ imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others." (43). It is better to have one’s love spontaneously bubble up from the heart than to have a pushy person demand our feelings. And acknowledging that the Lord is real and that He always loves us is how our love for Him bubbles up spontaneously and freely. He does not become pushy and always preserves our freedom.
Fourth, it is better to be devout and to pray for a neighbor who is suffering than to try to be loving and helpful. In response, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “If in my life I fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be ‘devout’ and to perform my ‘religious duties,’ then my relationship with God will grow arid. It merely becomes… loveless” (46). Without a proper love of the Lord, prayers and devotions "grow arid" and dry and a the heartfelt benevolence for one's neighbor is missing.
Fifth, a person that is lovingly and benevolently helping a neighbor who is suffering can be ignorant of the unjust paradigms and faulty structural systems that bring about suffering on a global scale. Pope Benedict XVI writes, “Part of Marxist strategy is the theory of impoverishment. It is claimed that anyone who engages in charitable initiatives is actually serving that unjust system” (80). In response, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “What we have here is really an inhuman philosophy. People of the present are sacrificed to the moloch of the future — a future whose effective realization is at best doubtful” (80). The preoccupation with ecological conversion and unjust means of production leads a person away from addressing the “concrete needs” and real suffering of one’s neighbor (63).
Final remarks. The Lord is truly very loving and lovable, and Pope Benedict XVI wrote a clear document on the ways we can keep our love genuine, proper and strong.
© By Theodore Faulders, July 30 2014.