Surprised by Love in The Endow Faith Study
Deus Caritas Est has been one of my favourite Endow studies so far.
It all started with an invitation from my younger sister Rose and her roommate Ana, to join them in this book study based on Pope Benedict’s encyclical on God’s love.
I was drawn to the topic of love and much of what attracted me was the experience of community and the opportunity to meet with other like-minded Catholic women. During our weekly gatherings we read, prayed, shared personal stories and ate lunch together. Our time together became a source of nourishment and joy.
This book study meant a lot to me because I have a strong conviction that love is the only thing that gives meaning to life; and yet, it is so easy to get side-tracked and miss the mark in our efforts to grow in and find love. Pope Benedict beautifully and clearly speaks about what true love is, and the Endow study guide helped us bring the Theology to life.
Both in reading and in practice, we delved deeper into what it means to love, and in surprising ways. With a book like God Is Love, you would think you’d walk away and learn to be loving in a typical way: be kind, be nice. For me and many of the other ladies, the love of the Gospel challenged us to speak up more, to be honest with the people in our lives, and to share our voice with courage. We learned that doing or saying the loving thing wasn’t always easy and didn’t always mean being complacent.
We also learned that for love to be genuine there is both an aspect of generous self-giving and an aspect of delighting in and celebrating the other.
Sometimes as Christians we focus mostly on love as agape, as a giving that asks for nothing in return. In reality, there is another side of love that is also very important which is the love that recognizes the goodness in the other and is drawn to the other. It is a love of celebration; it is a love of life.
In the growth of understanding how to better give and receive love, I’ve come to realize how important it is to show genuine affection for others; to celebrate their gifts, their personalities, and their beauty. People don’t (just) want to be a charity cause. They want to be cherished and wanted.
There is much beauty in reading and learning, but there comes a point where you want real-life experiences: real people with real stories, and this is what studies such as Endow facilitate.
It was an opportunity to share our struggles and our joys, and find companionship in the human journey of life and love.
It was inspiring to hear the lived experiences of those who were part of our group. One of the ladies shared how, to her, love meant being vulnerable with her husband and asking for what she needed. Another lady shared how she found strength and courage in prayer to love those that were more challenging to love. Inspired by what Pope Benedict writes about love as communion, someone shared how for them love meant the sometimes-arduous process of finding common ground with colleagues rather than reacting with an objection to an idea or approach they didn’t initially understand.
The Endow group provided the sense of community we were all looking for and we even continued to meet for 2020 with new studies and new books. It was a space for us women to come together and share our thoughts and feelings.
For me, the more I am connected to the people of God, the more I feel connected to God. Very few people are called to be hermits; most of us are called to experience God in relationship with others and through community. I believe we are called to be the face and voice of Jesus for others—an aspect many of us are rediscovering during COVID.
At the beginning of this new year, I pray to the Lord that He may help us grow in love. Love is a gift: something we can’t buy or rent. It is a gift from God and from those around us. And yet, I can learn to be more loving. I can learn to recognize genuine love so that I’m ready to embrace and make room for it when it comes my way.
Will you join the next Endow study?
Sister Angela Marie, a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, and the Coordinator for Adult Faith Formation for the Archdiocese of Vancouver is starting another Endow Faith Study on Thursday, February 4, 2021.
The study will be on “Deus Caritas Est,” God is Love. As we move into the upcoming Lenten season, consider participating in this Endow Faith Study and join other women to learn more about the true Christian meaning of love. Find more information and registration below.
What is Endow
Endow (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) seeks to educate women toward a more profound understanding of their God-given dignity through study in small group communities of faith and friendship. Rooted in the teachings of Pope St. John Paul II, Endow affirms the genius of women – the feminine genius – and empowers them to fulfill our culture’s desperate need for an authentic feminine presence in every aspect of life and society.
Endow attracts women of all ages, races, nationalities and vocations and brings them together to read and discuss papal and magisterial documents as well as the lives and writings of the saints. Endow faith study participants encounter the Catholic intellectual tradition together, sometimes for the very first time, and learn how to recognize, cultivate and live the fullness of their feminine genius in their families, workplaces and communities.
Deus Caritas Est
A study on Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Letter “God is Love.”
In his first encyclical, God Is Love, promulgated on Christmas Day, 2005, Benedict XVI expounds on the reality of love. He knows that the word “love” has been distorted and its meaning tarnished – and this letter calls us back to the foundational truths about love.
This study is an opportunity to come to a deeper understanding of what it means to be loved by God, and how God’s love is present in the concrete reality of our daily lives.
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