Is there someone in your life whom you find difficult to love? Pope Francis has some simple and sound advice for us when we are struggling to love.
“Charity … is a grace, a gift,” the Pope told faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “Being able to love is a gift of God, and we must ask Him for it. He freely gives it, if we ask him.”
The first step is recognizing how much God loves us. The Pope explained:
We know how difficult it is to love as our Lord commands us, and how often our love can be tainted by self-interest. It is important to remember that love – charity – is a grace, the fruit of our saving encounter with God’s own love. Saint Paul reminds us that the Lord’s grace forgives our sins, heals our hearts, and enables us to become channels of his own unconditional love.
Our efforts to love our brothers and sisters with a pure and disinterested love are really our response to the love we have been shown in Christ.
But even with this awareness, we are still weak and will get nowhere with our own meager efforts. The Pope insisted that charity is something we need God for.
Conscious of our human weakness, let us ask our Lord daily to renew the gift of his love within us and to enable us to be witnesses of that love to others, especially those in greatest need. In this way, we will fulfill the Apostle’s command to “rejoice in hope” (Rom 12:12), as we strive to grow in the life of charity and to draw others to the merciful love of the Father.
