Pope Francis
By Linda Bordoni
Feb 13 2023
Pope Francis invites Christians to give of themselves totally and love God without reserve in order to fulfil their faith.
How to be fulfilled in faith and reciprocate God’s love was the message at the heart of the Pope’s reflection on Sunday as he addressed believers gathered for the recitation of the Angelus.
Reflecting on the Gospel of the day, Pope Francis said Jesus “makes us understand that religious rules are necessary, they are good, but they are only the beginning: to fulfil them, it is necessary to go beyond the letter and live their meaning.”
Taking his cue from the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil” (Mt 5:17), he explained that To fulfil is a key word to understand Jesus and his message.
Ritualistic observance is pointless
It is not enough to lead a life respecting the laws, he said, to refrain from killing but hurting with words, to refrain from committing adultery but living a love “tainted by duplicity and falsehood,” to take a solemn oath “if one then acts with hypocrisy. “This,” he underscored, “is not fulfilment.”
The Holy Father explained that “Making an offering to God reciprocates the gratuity of his gifts.”
The message is clear, he said: “God loves us first, freely, taking the first step towards us, without us deserving it.”
“In this way, there is fulfilment in God’s eyes,” the Pope continued, “otherwise external, purely ritualistic observance is pointless.”
He said that “religious rules are necessary, they are good, but they are only the beginning: to fulfil them, it is necessary to go beyond the letter and live their meaning.”
Aspire to the maximum
Pope Francis said that this is a timeless issue and reminded believers that faith is not “a formal observance, which is satisfied with the bare minimum, whereas Jesus invites us to aspire to the maximum possible.”
True love, the Pope continued, “is never up to a certain point, and is never satisfied; love goes beyond, one cannot do without.”
He said the Lord showed us this “by giving his life on the cross and forgiving his murderers, and he entrusted to us the commandment most dear to him: that we love each other like he loved us.
Pope Francis concluded encouraging Christians to ask themselves how they live their faith: “Is it a matter of calculations, formalism, or a love story with God? Am I content with not doing harm, of keeping the “façade” in good order, or do I try to grow in love for God and others?”
Every now and then, he said, check yourself on Jesus’ great commandment, asking whether “I love my neighbour as He loves me?”
