Editor's Report

A Love Letter From Pope Francis

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Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t ever recall a papal document that received as much attention as “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”) on its first day. True, it had been anticipated for months, coming after two synods devoted to family life, even before the release date was confirmed as April 8. 

By the time I went online shortly after 6 a.m. that day, Church officials, commentators and columnists were all trying to quickly put a stamp on the pope’s words.
In figuring out what I wanted to say about “The Joy of Love,” I decided to pull back from the fray a bit. I remembered a comment Cardinal Dolan had made in a recent interview with Crux about the document’s primary focus being on marriage and not the hotly debated topic of Communion for divorced Catholics who have remarried outside the Church.
“My major concern is that we can’t allow this one issue, as important as it is, to eclipse the fact that the major and most urgent mandate for the Church is to reclaim the beauty and nobility of the sacrament of marriage and family life,” the cardinal said.
Apparently, Pope Francis was on the same page. He tackled many subjects in his 256-page apostolic exhortation, with the subject of Love in Marriage, covered in Chapter 4, taking up slightly more than 50 pages.
St. Paul’s timeless reflection on love from First Corinthians, selected as a reading at almost every wedding Mass I have ever attended, is the firm foundation of the first half of the chapter. Line by line, the pope takes us through the passage, explaining in detail St. Paul’s simple, moving words: Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind, Love Is Not Jealous, Love Is Not Boastful and so on.
Space precludes sharing the full scope of “The Joy of Love,” but I want to make a couple of exceptions, especially in this important chapter. To illustrate the heading, “Love Is at the Service of Others,” it is explained that St. Paul used the word “chrestéuetai,” the only time it is used in the Bible. It is derived from another word, meaning one who shows his goodness by his deeds.
“Paul wants to make it clear that ‘patience’ is not a completely passive attitude, but one accompanied by activity, by a dynamic and creative interaction with others,” the papal text says. “The word indicates that loves benefits and helps others. For this reason it is translated as ‘kind’; love is ever ready to be of assistance.” It goes on to say that St. Paul clearly “wants to stress that love is more than a mere feeling.” So, it seems, does Pope Francis.
Even with biblical commentary, unfamiliar words, when they are introduced, are explained in clear language. The reader is left with a deeper understanding of St. Paul’s words and by extension called to an exploration of the larger topic, Love in Marriage.
Not all the commentary is so lofty. Some of the pope’s own reflections appear homespun. Examples, such as the following one from a section on Joy and Beauty, hit the mark. “A look of appreciation has enormous importance, and to begrudge it is usually hurtful. How many things do spouses and children sometimes do in order to be noticed! Much hurt and many problems result when we stop looking at one another. This lies behind the complaints and grievances we often hear in families: ‘My husband does not look at me; he acts as if I were invisible.’ … ‘My wife no longer looks at me, she only has eyes for our children.’”
So it seems that Pope Francis, who always points toward encountering the Risen Christ, believes marriage and family life can be a vehicle for getting there. Even if you aren’t the type to read papal exhortations, you may want to make an exception for Chapter 4 of this one.
As I was finishing this column, my wife called. Her last words were, “I love you.”
That’s what I call a perfect ending.