Pope: "There is no curse," we are all loved by God, good and bad

"Much of man’s narcissism is born from a feeling of solitude." Lack of love is the source of many apparently inexplicable behaviors: "Not being or not feeling loved as a teenager, can lead to violence."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "There is no curse on our life," because "we are all loved by God, good and bad." And the lack of love is at the origin of many seemingly inexplicable behaviors: " Not being or not feeling loved as a teenager, can lead to violence. Behind this behavior “is often a heart that has not been recognized".

"Dear Children, Certainty of Hope" (cf. Lk 15, 20-24a) was the theme of which Pope Francis spoke at a general audience divided into two parts, first to greet the sick in the Paul VI audience hall and then in St. Peter's Square.

Francis began his catechesis with the assertion that "none of us can live without love, but to believe that love is earned is to fall into a type of slavery. Perhaps much of the anguish of contemporary man comes from this: to believe that unless we are strong, attractive and beautiful, then no one will take care of us. Many people today look for visibility only to fill an inner void: as if we eternally in need of confirmation. But can you imagine a world where everyone begs for reasons to attract the attention of others, and no one is willing to love one another for free? It looks like a human world, but it's actually hell. Much of man’s narcissism is born from a feeling of solitude. Behind such seemingly inexplicable behaviors a question arises: may I not deserve to be called by name? "

"Not being or not feeling loved as a teenager, can lead to violence. Behind so many forms of social hatred and hooliganism there is often a heart that has not been recognized. There are no bad children, as there are no evil young people, but there are unhappy people. And what can make us happy if not the experience of love given and received? The life of the human being is an exchange of looks: someone who looks at us stealing a first smile, and we who smile freely for those who are closed in sadness, and so we open a way out. "

"The first step God does towards us is that of an anticipated and unconditional love. God does not love us because of some reason. God loves us because He Himself is love, and as love tends to spread and gift love by His nature. God does not even tie his benevolence to our conversion: if this is a consequence of God's love, Saint Paul says it perfectly: "God demonstrates his love for us in the fact that while we were yet sinners, Christ Died for us "(Rm 5,8). While we were still sinners. We were "distant," like the prodigal son of the parable: "When he was still far away, his father saw him, he was compassionate ..." (Lk. 15:20). For our love God has made an exodus of Himself, to come and find us in this land where he was unaware that he passed through. God loved even when we were wrong. "

"Who loves us in this way, if not a father or mother? A mother still loves her child even when this son is in prison. A mother does not ask for the cancellation of human justice, because every error requires a redemption, but a mother never ceases to suffer for her son. She loves him even when he is a sinner. God does the same thing with us: we are all his beloved children! There is no curse on our life, but only a benevolent word of God, which has taken our existence out of nothing. The truth of everything is that relationship of love that binds the Father with the Son through the Holy Spirit, a relationship in which we are received by grace. In Him, in Christ Jesus, we have been loved, beloved, desired. There is Someone who has embellished in us a primordial beauty, that no sin, no wrong choice will ever completely erase. We are always in front of God's eyes, small fountains from which to draw good water. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: "The water that I give you will become in you a source of water for eternal life" (Jn 4:14). To change the heart of an unhappy person, you must first embrace them. Make them feel that they are desired, this is important, and they will stop being sad. Love calls love, stronger than hate calls death. Jesus did not die and Rise again for himself, but for us, so that our sins would be forgiven. It is therefore a time of resurrection for all: it is time to raise the poor from discouragement, especially those who lie in the tomb from a much longer time than three days. Here, on our faces, blows a breeze of liberation. Here,  the gift of hope takes root. "