Preparing for the Pope

American Catholics are gearing up for the visit by Pope Benedict XVI in April. To help members of the church in the D.C area prepare, the Archdiocese of Washington sponsored lectures on the issues raised in the two encyclicals written by the Pope since he was installed. The first, entitled Deus Caritas Est, was issued on December 25, 2005; the second is Spe Salvi and was published in 2007.

According to a Washington Post article, Archbishop Timothy Broglio led the first lecture on February 28 and addressed a "rapt" audience of over 600. The material in the encyclicals is pretty weighty. A cursory reading is not sufficient to plumb the depths of meaning. So, according to the article, the Archbishop raised questions.

ON LOVE (the first encyclical): "It is asking what is the nature of the love between man and God, and how is it related to other forms of love, say between people or between a person and their career or calling? Can a person love God? Is this a language conundrum, or more of a conceptual one? And when it comes to love of neighbor, what type of love motivates a Christian to do good, to do charity? Can it be a secular love - a basic urge to do good - or must it always be a Christ-motivated love?"

ON HOPE (the second encyclical): "Can contemporary people really hope? And is hope in the future the same thing as hoping for eternal life? What, he said, IS life? And is Christian hope selfish, since it asks people to look to their own salvation?"

Whether one is Catholic or not, and whether one plans to see the Pope or not, these questions are worthy of reflection. Based on what we human beings know about love, can we really love God? Do we truly show love toward others? Can someone, who is not a Christian, act charitably toward another? What defines the hope we have? Is the hope of believers narrowly defined as the hope of heaven after death and nothing more?

For those of you who are Catholic, who have been Catholic, or those who never have been Catholic, how do you understand 'the love of God and the love for God'? What gives you hope for your future?