Esteemed Catholic Nerds,
The moment has come; our "sleeping bags on the cyber-sidewalk outside the Vatican at 4am moment" is over! Today the Pope released his 3rd Encyclical!! Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth) ... WOOT! WOOT!
Benedict XVI has said "this document... intends to focus on some aspects of the integral developments of our time, in the light of love in truth."
SOME QUICK GEMS:
"Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite."
"Charity in truth places man before the astonishing experience of gift. Gratuitousness is present in our lives in many different forms, which often go unrecognized because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life. The human being is made for gift, which expresses and makes present his transcendent dimension."
- Pope Benedict XVI
The USCCB has a nice summary of CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING to give us some foundation on its blog here.
Peace and Incense,
Bill
