A recurrent theme of the rich magisterium of Pope John Paul II is surely the term civilisation of love. It was Pope Paul VI who first introduced the concept within the ambience of magisterial teaching. One cannot deeply understand the concept of civilisation of love without embracing with it the notion of reciprocity. Love is essentially reciprocal.
Genuine human advancement takes place when one meets God in every human person and every human person in God. And the basis for such reciprocity always remains the one and only commandment which, as it were, restructures and re-strengthens the entire political and social life. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself”(Lk 10,27).
Such a commandment has the power of regenerating and refashioning the political community from its very roots. Nowadays, fragmentation can easily be seen in the way we conceive our society and do politics. We tend to focus on issues rather than seeing the whole panorama. Obviously, this kind of approach goes diametrically opposite to the aforementioned principle of the love of God and one’s neighbour. Social love has to include both the vertical and the horizontal level of reality. Otherwise it risks being a sheer philanthropy which, with its good intents and purposes, falls short to address the real spiritual and existential issues which are making our civilisation suffer so much.
If God remains the backbone of our society, then we shall have a bright future. It is God who inspires the human person to live in community both as a model of organising social life as well as the individual style for everyday living. Since “God is love” (1 Jn 4,8), all those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them (1 Jn 4,16). Hence, concrete human relationships within a society can only flourish and mature in and through love. As Pope John Paul II said in his Encylical Letter Dives in Misericordia: “love and only love (including that kindly love that we call “mercy”) is capable of restoring man to Himself (Dives in Misericordia, 14).
The civilisation of love is fundamentally composed of peaceful citizens. Let us pray that each and every person on earth reconciles himself/herself with God and with his/her neighbour. In this way, the citizen can truly live his/her existential and social vocation, that is to say, to love freely, responsibly and constantly. On the other hand, in doing so, s/he is creating, deepening and preserving the civilisation of love.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann