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Pope Francis during his Sunday Angelus tells the faithful in St. Peter’s Square that love is the cornerstone of Jesus’ teaching.
By Vatican News
During his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel of the Day in which a doctor of the Law asks Jesus what “the great commandment” is.
Jesus responds saying: “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind” and “You will love your neighbor as yourself.”
Two fundamental precepts
Pope Francis explained that by using these two fundamental precepts, Jesus “establishes two fundamental pillars for believers of all times. The first is that moral and religious life cannot be reduced to anxious and forced obedience, but must have love as its principle. The second is that love must tend together and inseparably towards God and neighbor ”.
The Pope continued by saying that “This is one of the main innovations of Jesus and it helps us to understand that what is not expressed in love of neighbor is not true love of God; and, likewise, what is not extracted from one’s relationship with God is not true love of neighbor ”.
Concluding his answer, Jesus says: “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
On this point, Pope Francis said: “This means that all the precepts that the Lord has given to his people must be related to the love of God and of neighbor.”
In fact, he added, “all the commandments serve to implement and express that indivisible double love. Love for God is expressed above all in prayer, especially in worship. And love of neighbor, which is also called fraternal charity, consists of closeness, listening, sharing, caring for others, ”said the Pope.
Jesus and the source of love
In today’s Gospel, Pope Francis underlined: “once again, Jesus helps us to go to the living and effusive source of Love. This spring he is God himself, to be totally loved in a communion that nothing and no one can break” .
“Communion is a gift that must be invoked every day,” he continued, “but also a personal commitment so that our lives are not enslaved by the idols of this world.”
The Pope has underlined that “the verification of our path of conversion and holiness is always in love of neighbor. As long as there is a brother or sister to whom we close our hearts, we will still be far from being disciples as Jesus asks us ”.
Pope Francis concluded by saying that “God’s divine mercy does not allow us to lose heart, on the contrary, it calls us to start anew each day to live the Gospel with coherence.”
