Vatican City, Mar 15, 2017 / 05:33 am
On Wednesday Pope Francis warned against the hypocrisy that comes from believing that the ability to genuinely love others is based on our own efforts or goodness, rather than being only and always a gift from God.
"We are called to love, to charity: this is our highest calling, our vocation for excellence," he said March 15, asking: "how can we be sure that our love is sincere, that our charity is genuine?"
"Behind all this there is a false idea, that is to say, if we love, it is because we are good; as if charity were man's creation, a product of our heart. Charity, however, is first and foremost a grace, a gift; to love is a gift of God, and we have to ask. And He gives it willingly, if we ask it."
Showing love to others, Francis said, is not something that we do to shine a light on who or what we are, but to show better who God is, and what he freely gives to us.