Madrid, Spain, Apr 27, 2006 / 22:00 pm
In his weekly letter, Archbishop Agustin Garcia-Gasco of Valencia said the upcoming World Meeting of Families is an invitation “to rediscover the meaning of authentic love” in a time characterized by cheap love, using people and throwing them away.
According to the AVAN news agency, Archbishop Garcia-Gasco insisted in his letter that the World Meeting of Families “is also a day for Christian young people to meet who are willing to seek out the greatness of human love, open to God and to life, which guarantees the future of humanity.”
“In a singular way,” he continued, “the Church invites young people to understand the greatness of love and to put their trust in Him” because “only in this way will they be able to mature as adults, be happy and contribute to the true development of humanity.”
The archbishop underscored the need for clarifying the true role of love in the life of the human person, and “Pope Benedict XVI in his first great document, the encyclical Deus caritas est” provided just such a reflection.
Archbishop Garcia-Gasco also recalled that to be Christian “is much more than embracing an ethic or an ideology.”
“Bringing us into life, giving us a family, bestowing on us intelligence, freedom and the capacity to love, making us part of a people, benefiting from the common good of our homeland and of humanity are all examples of the love of God that is fully manifest in Jesus Christ,” he said.
The archbishop underscored that “in our days we need solid principles to guide us towards a consistent love, that neither deceives nor runs out with the passing of time.” In a world in which love is often presented in utilitarian or commercial terms, he continued, “Benedict XVI offers us a way that is ever ancient and ever new: the way of Christ who, knowing the human person, male and female, just as he or she is, proposes a love that does not deceive, because it is based on the loving plan of God Himself.”