on god's love

I haven't yet gotten around to reading Pope Benedict's first Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. It's not so much that I haven't had the time, more that I was afraid that perhaps I wouldn't find myself very happy with what he had to say. I've been really trying to have an open mind and faith in the holy spirit, and was afraid that perhaps my reading his encyclical would rock that boat.

Luckily others have been reading and writing about it for me. The British Catholic paper The Tablet had some good things to say in their last issue.

"… he has produced a profound, lucid, poignant and at times witty discussion of the relationship between sexual love and the love of God, the fruit no doubt of a lifetime’s meditation. This is a document that presents the most attractive face of the Catholic faith and could be put without hesitation into the hands of any inquirer."

Commonweal also has some insights on the document.

As for me, I plan to take the plunge this weekend and spend some time with the document. I'm particularly interested in his discussion of social justice and church/state relations.