What the World Needs Now

One of the purposes of Benedict's first encyclical Deus Caritas Est is to counteract the view that the desire of eros is contrary to Christian love.

D.C. Schindler's Communio article "The Redemption of Eros" explains how the Pope shows otherwise. Agape and Eros should not be counterposed. Rather, the desire of eros is purified and fulfilled through generosity, desire's desire to give. Benedict even quotes Dionysius the Aeropagite, who provocatively asserted in his book Divine Names that "God is eros." (at p. 398).

Love is not self-less; it is self-filled. Desire for the other is properly part of the most exalted love. It is desire that moves one to the other; "dis-interested" love moves nothing. Seeing the goodness of another awakens desire, moves me toward her, into her presence, with an aim to do her good. Desire becomes purified as it becomes infused with generosity: I love when I desire to give myself freely to and for my beloved.

Schindler names Jean Vanier (founder of L'Arche) as an example of a lover (p 395):

[I]magine a handicapped person receiving an act of charity from someone who has no need of this person, but carries out this act simply out of a sense of Christian duty. Compare his experience of being 'loved' to that of a handicapped person who receives a visit from someone like Jean Vanier, for example, a man who feels that he has more to receive from the person than he has to give. Which of these is the more radiant instance of generosity?

Schindler points out that one of the greatest gifts a lover can give is to be wanted. "As any lover knows, one of the greatest gifts a person can receive from another is the gift of being desired. If I desire you, my love for you is not simply the fulfillment of an abstract duty. . ." but an affirmation in my being that you are good for me! (p. 395).

And so acts of charity should not be disinterested but should entail the desire "to be with," a wanting to be personally involved. An act of charity shouldn't be done from duty but because "I want to help," as Jesus said when asked to heal. Such a person "will be personally involved in the activity, i.e., who will give the gift of his person along with whatever else he may give." (p. 390).

As I venture to Guatemala for a week's "mission work," I ask myself, why not just send the money I would spend on an airplane ticket, and stay home? The last paragraph answers my question. I want to go to be with Padre Javier, and his parishioners, in work that testifies that they are a privilege to be with and to work with.

On my first trip to Guatemala a number of years ago, a woman from the U.S. there helping said, "I thought I came to Guatemala to minister. . . I found when I got here that I was ministered to." This is the same sentiment expressed about Jean Vanier. The heart of charity and love is the desire to be with, and to be of real help, here with our Central American neighbors. Please pray for us on our trip, that we may all experience the joy of Christ's love as we spend time with each other and with the Mayans and Ladinos we see and meet.

BTW, I can't do the article (or the pope's encyclical!) justice in these few words. I commend it to your reading and study, for, in my opinion, it helps us understand better how to love, and to enjoy the blessings love promises. Isn't that the "good news" of Christianity?

Listen to Dionne Warwick, "What the World Needs Now"

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Listen to Dionne Warwick, "So Amazing to Be Loved"

Listen to Dionne Warwick, "The Look of Love"

Listen to Dionne Warwick, "Theme from the Valley of the Dolls"

Listen to Dionne Warwick and Whitney Houston, "Love Will Find a Way"

Listen to Dionne Warwick, "His House and Me"