"ὁ θεòς ἀγάπη ἐστίν"

The title of this post is the Greek wording from 1 John 4:16: "God is Love".

Deus Caritas Est takes its name from the first line of the encyclical and corresponds to 1 John 4:16. In his first encyclical Pope Benedict treats the subject of human love. In the 42 paragraph opus Benedict reflects on eros, agape, and logos, and the relationship of Christ to the different ways we love. As he reflects on love Benedict ascertains that love for self and love for neighbor must be one and inseparable. Furthermore, love must be reciprocated. One cannot take without giving. Benedict urges the faithful, especially those involved in charitable work, to take the time to reflect on love. The forum for reflection on love is prayer. He recalls the example and life of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He points to her as prime example that prayer does not take away from charitable work, but rather, is the birth place of charity and love. Christians must "reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians...(§36-38)"

Benedict brings love home in reflecting upon the "personal" love of God.

In Jesus Christ, it is God himself who goes in search of the “stray sheep”, a suffering and lost humanity... His death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him.This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. Jn 19:37), we can understand the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). (§9)

The encyclical also calls for justice in the world. Benedict warns that the church must not replace politics. The church's responsiblity, writes Benedict, is to speak for and promote justice. Justice in the world is the outcome of love.

Benedict encourages readers to love one another sincerely, for only love can acheive to dispel the darkness, and we, being created in the image of God, are capable of love.

Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world—this is the invitation I would like to extend with the present Encyclical." (§39)

It is said that a Pope's first encyclical sets the tone of his papacy. Below is the final paragraph of Deus Caritas Est. If indeed this encyclical will set the tone to Benedict's papacy, then it's going to be a great one!

The saints are the true bearers of light within history, for they are men and women of faith, hope and love...Outstanding among the saints is Mary, Mother of the Lord and mirror of all holiness....“My soul magnifies the Lord” (Lk 1:46). In these words she expresses her whole programme of life: not setting herself at the center, but leaving space for God, who is encountered both in prayer and in service of neighbor—only then does goodness enter the world...The testimonials of gratitude, offered to her from every continent and culture, are a recognition of that pure love which is not self- seeking but simply benevolent. At the same time, the devotion of the faithful shows an infallible intuition of how such love is possible: it becomes so as a result of the most intimate union with God, through which the soul is totally pervaded by him—a condition which enables those who have drunk from the fountain of God's love to become in their turn a fountain from which “flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38). Mary, Virgin and Mother, shows us what love is and whence it draws its origin and its constantly renewed power. (§40-42)

At an ecumenical vespers service at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, during the same week of the publication of Deus Caritas, Pope Benedict summarized his beliefs on love in what he said in his homily, "God is love. On this solid rock the entire faith of the church is based."