The Weekday Ramble is a daily dose of sports, music, culture, and more from Rambling On founder Erik Ritland. For more information check us out on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or at our website.
Friday April 3, 2015
Our final Quote/Picture/Video of the week features underrated, often misunderstood Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
Love and isolation
God is not solitude, but perfect communion. For this reason the human person, the image of God, realizes himself or herself in love, which is a sincere gift of self.
People are meant for community and communion with those around us. Sure, some are called to a consecrated life, but the majority of us who live in the world is to engage with and share with those around us. Being a part of groups or communities in which we give of ourselves, from our families to social clubs, is an important dimension of being fully human
Even more importantly, we only realize who we truly are by living in love, love which is fully realized in the act of self-giving. This was a major theme in the life, writings, and pontificate of the brilliant scholar Joseph Ratzinger.
Word
A gentle, pious, sweet tempered man...and a brilliant theologian
As often happens with things pertaining to the Catholic Church, many have a radically different view of Benedict XVI than reality indicates. It is easy to take a story here, read a quote there, and get a slanted view of one or two of his teachings from a biased source and think you can create an opinion about him. What is actually created is an unfair straw man.
Many saw Benedict as a hard-nosed, mean spirited conservative. A glance into his biography, much less his written work, disproves this thoroughly. As Robert Barron (one of my favorite contemporary Catholic commentators) explains in this video, Benedict was a gentle, wise, loving man. His emphasis on "affirmative orthodoxy" evolved Catholic thought from dry scholasticism to a living, joyful, Christ-centered reality.
Any of his books are worth reading, but his three part Jesus of Nazareth series is essential. It uses reason and scholarship to intelligently defend traditional teaching on Jesus.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He is also a contributor for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
Many saw Benedict as a hard-nosed, mean spirited conservative. A glance into his biography, much less his written work, disproves this thoroughly. As Robert Barron (one of my favorite contemporary Catholic commentators) explains in this video, Benedict was a gentle, wise, loving man. His emphasis on "affirmative orthodoxy" evolved Catholic thought from dry scholasticism to a living, joyful, Christ-centered reality.
Any of his books are worth reading, but his three part Jesus of Nazareth series is essential. It uses reason and scholarship to intelligently defend traditional teaching on Jesus.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He is also a contributor for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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