"End the clashes" in Jerusalem and respect the multireligious character of the city. "To love like Christ means to say no to other 'loves' that the world offers us: love for money, for success, vanity, for power…. These deceptive paths take us away from the love of the Lord and lead us to become more and more selfish, narcissistic and overbearing ".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The "sick love" that become violence, that leads to the suffering of so many women, is not love. It is a degeneration that leads to the abuse of others. Moreover, love for money, for success, for power distances us from loving as Jesus loves us, which "means appreciating the person next to us and respecting his freedom, loving him as he is, gratuitously".
Pope Francis spoke of the love of Jesus today before the Regina Caeli prayer, after which he expressed concern over the clashes in Jerusalem and closeness to the victims of violence in Kabul and Colombia.
There were thousands of people present in St. Peter's Square for the midday prayer before which Francis commented on the passage from the Gospel (Jn 15: 9-17) in which Jesus, "after comparing himself to the vine and we to the branches", invites us to "abide in his love so that his joy may be in us and our joy may be complete (vv. 9-11). Abide in the love of Jesus.Let us ask ourselves: what is this love in which Jesus tells us to abide in order to have his joy? It is love that originates in the Father, because "God is love" (1 Jn 4: 8). Like a river it flows in the Son Jesus and through him it reaches us, his creatures. In fact, he says: "As the Father loved me, I also loved you" (Jn 15: 9) ".
“And how do you abide in this love? Jesus says: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love" (v. 10). Jesus has summed up his commandments in one, this: "Love one another as I have loved you" (v. 12). To love as Christ loves means to always put oneself at the service of the brothers, as he did in washing the feet of the disciples. It means going out of oneself, detaching oneself from one's human security, from worldly comforts, to open up to others, especially those in greatest need. It means making yourself available, with what we are and what we have. This means to love not with words but with deeds ”.
"To love like Christ means to say no to other 'loves' that the world offers us: love for money, for success, vanity, for power…. These deceptive paths take us away from the love of the Lord and lead us to become more and more selfish, narcissistic and overbearing. And the arrogance leads to a degeneration of love, to abuse others, to make the loved one suffer. I think of that sick love that turns into violence - and how many women are victims of violence today. This is not love. Loving as the Lord loves us means appreciating the person around us and respecting their freedom, loving them as they are, not as we would like them to be, for free. Ultimately, Jesus asks us to dwell in his love for him, not in our ideas, not in the worship of ourselves; those who love themselves love the mirror, to get out of the pretense of controlling and managing others, but to trust and give ourselves to others ".
Abiding in the love of the Lord leads to the "joy of knowing that we are loved by God despite our infidelities, makes us face the trials of life with faith, makes us go through crises to come out better. It is in living this joy that our being true witnesses consists, because joy is the distinctive sign of the Christian. The true Christian is not sad, he always has that joy inside ”.
It was after the recitation of the Marian prayer that Francis expressed his "concern" for the clashes in Jerusalem and expressed the hope that it "will be a place of encounter and not of violent clashes", and that "his multi-identity -religious ". “Violence - he concluded - only generates violence. Enough violence ".
The Pope also prayed for the victims of the terrorist attack in Kabul, "an inhumane action that targeted so many girls as they left school, may God grant peace to Afghanistan". And a thought to Colombia: "I am following the tensions with concern and the violent clashes in Colombia that have resulted in so many dead and injured ",
Finally, Francis spoke of the beatification, which took place yesterday, of Rosario Livatino, the Italian youthful judge, killed by the mafia in 1990. "His work - he said - always placed him under the protection of God, which is why he became witness of the Gospel to the point of heroic death. May his example be for everyone, especially the magistrates, an incentive to be loyal defenders of legality and freedom ".