Thursday, September 8, 2016

Amoris Laetitia - Par. 39



39.   This is hardly to suggest that we cease warning against a cultural decline that fails to promote love or self-giving.  The consultation that took place prior to the last two Synods pointed to the various symptoms of a “culture of the ephemeral”.  Here I think, for example, of the speed with which people move from one affective relationship to another. They believe, along the lines of  social networks, that love can be connected or disconnected at the whim of the consumer, and the relationship quickly “blocked”.  I think too of the fears associated with permanent commitment, the obsession with free time, and those relationships  that  weigh costs  and  benefits for the sake of remedying loneliness, providing protection, or offering some service.  We treat affective relationships the way we treat material objects and the environment: everything is disposable; everyone uses and throws away, takes and breaks, exploits and squeezes to the last drop. Then, goodbye. Narcissism makes people incapable of looking beyond themselves, beyond their own desires and needs. Yet sooner or later, those who use others end up being used themselves, manipulated and discarded by that same mind-set.  It is also worth noting that breakups often occur among older adults who seek a kind of “independence” and reject the ideal of growing old together, looking after and supporting one another.


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