God's Love (a Catholic perspective of its efficacy)

The Catholic Church teaches that God’s love overcomes evil and causes a real change in us. This idea was a hallmark of John Paul II’s theology: "Especially through his lifestyle and through his actions, Jesus revealed that love is present in the world in which we live - an effective love, a love that addresses itself to man and embraces everything that makes up his humanity. This love makes itself particularly noticed in contact with suffering, injustice, and poverty - in contact with the whole historical ‘human condition,’ which in various ways manifests man’s limitation and frailty, both physical and moral. It is precisely the mode and sphere in which love manifests itself that in biblical language is called ‘mercy’" (Dives in Misericordia, 3). The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is fully revealed in Jesus Christ by his mercy, draws good out of evil. Though the full realization of Christ’s victory over evil awaits its appointed time, the Resurrection is a first fruit of that victory and shines forth as the greatest evidence of the efficacy of divine love.

The miracles of Jesus, demonstrations of divine power over the consequences of sin, point to the power of God’s love to overcome sin itself. Such is the lesson of the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:10–11). God’s love is no less effective with respect to sin than it is with respect to leprosy, blindness, and death. When he touches us with his grace, that is, his love, we are really changed. We are made holy and are justified. This consistent teaching of the Church was restated by Vatican II: "The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to his own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy" (Lumen Gentium 40; emphasis added). God’s love accomplishes something we cannot do for ourselves. It forgives sins, causes conversion, justifies, and makes us children of God.

Evidence for the Effectiveness of God’s Love
Without entering into detailed documentation and development, there are several considerations that support the claim that God’s love is effective.

1. This is the clear teaching of the Church. The texts we have viewed stress the real change in us that constitutes justification. We cannot justify ourselves. Even though there is a genuine cooperation on our part with God’s grace; that grace (the term as used here is synonymous with God’s love) is the cause of this change.

2. A love that was not effective wouldn’t correspond to our poverty and suffering. Either we would not be saved, or we would save ourselves. When people are wounded, they do not need a doctor simply to cover up the ugliness. They need a doctor to stop the bleeding and prevent a life-threatening infection. When people are sick, they need a real cure, not a sympathetic bedside manner. What good is love that does not bring about a real healing, a real change?

3. Many of Christ’s miracles changed people physically. Would it make sense if God’s power was less effective in the spiritual and moral realm? The liturgy captures this parallel between the physical and spiritual in the prayer before Communion: "Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and my soul will be healed." This prayer is based on the words of the centurion who believed in the efficacy of Christ’s word to heal his servant (Matt. 8:8). This is the kind of faith the Church desires to arouse in us as we approach Holy Communion.

4. God’s word is effective, as we see in Genesis: "Let there be . . . and so it was." We see it also in Isaiah 55:10–11: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Should God’s word be any less effective when it is the Word Incarnate of the New Testament?

Catholic Doctrine Reconsidered
Let us now consider several elements of Catholic doctrine in light of this efficacy of divine love.

1. The sacraments as real instrumental causes of grace. In and through the sacraments, God loves us efficaciously by sending the Holy Spirit as the fruit of Christ’s paschal mystery. "‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior" (CCC 1129). The sacraments operate in virtue of the efficacy of God’s love in the same way that the sacrifice of Jesus results in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

2. The nature of Christian morality. We saw that Paul’s moral exhortations invoke the principle that action follows upon being. We must be renewed in our being if we are to conform our lives to the demands of the gospel. We cannot become Christians by keeping commandments. In the covenants God has made with his people, commandments specify what is required in order to be good stewards of the gift of new life. But life comes first: God first touches us with the power of his creative and redeeming love; only then does he give the commandments, as in the case of Adam and Eve. Further, we are admonished that our love must be effective (see 1 John 3:18 and Jas. 1:22–25). Only an effective love is a participation in God’s own love, which is also effective.

3. The role of witness in evangelization and holiness in apologetics. Witness unites power to the proclamation of God’s word: "The witness of a Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power to draw men to the faith and to God" (CCC 2044, quoting Apostolicam Actuositatem). It has been said that holiness is the greatest apologetic for the Church. Now we know why: Holiness shows the active and transforming presence of God’s love in the Church, despite human weakness.

Conclusion
The principle of the efficacy of God’s love is important for several reasons. Since catechesis is by nature systematic, presenting the faith as an organic whole, our discovery of the connection between the efficacy of God’s love and the elements of Catholic faith presented here serves this goal. The efficacy of God’s love is also important for apologetics and ecumenical dialogue. As we have seen, several elements of Catholic doctrine related to the efficacy of divine love are points on which Catholic faith differs from that of many non-Catholic Christians (though I know many non-Catholic Christians who would not argue anything said here). Understanding that divine love is effective also helps us understand the irreplaceable role of witness in evangelization.

This is a time of renewed evangelization in the Catholic faith, and it is crucial that those who respond to this call place more confidence in the power of a Christian life to reach people’s hearts than in programs, techniques, and arguments. Apologetics and evangelization intersect precisely at this point: presenting to the world, through our changed lives, concrete evidence of the efficacy of God’s love made manifest in Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.