Christian communities should be characterized by love, Pope says in address

May 22, 2017

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading (Jn. 14:15-21), Pope Francis said in his May 21 Regina Coeli address that “the Lord calls us today to respond generously to the evangelical call for love, putting God at the center of our life and dedicating ourselves to the service of our brethren.”

“If there is an attitude that is never easy, that is never to be taken for granted, even in a Christian community, it is indeed being able to love, to love following the example of the Lord and with His grace,” the Pope told the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “A community of Christians should live in Christ’s charity and, instead, it is in fact precisely there that the evil one ‘puts his paw’ and we, sometimes, allow ourselves to be deceived.”

Pope Francis added:

The spiritually weakest are those who pay the price. How many of them—and you know some of them—how many of them have drifted away because they do not feel welcomed, they do not feel understood, they do not feel loved. How many persons have drifted, for instance, from some parishes or communities because of the environment of gossip, jealousy and envy they have found there …

Every day the art of loving must be learned. Listen to this: every day the art of loving must be learned; every day Christ’s school of patience must be followed, every day one must forgive and look to Jesus, and do so with the help of this “Advocate,” of this Consoler that Jesus has sent us, the Holy Spirit. May the Virgin Mary, perfect disciple of her Son and Lord, help us to be ever more obedient to the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, to learn every day to love one another as Jesus has loved us.

 

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Further information:

• 0:07 / 29:56 2017.05.21 - Regina Coeli (YouTube Vatican)
• The Pope’s words at the Regina Coeli prayer, 21.05.2017 (Holy See Press Office)