Photo By Christoph Wagener – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26614990

Pope Francis addressed the participants of a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical ‘Deus Caritas Est.’ The conference was on the theme ‘Love will never end’ and was held in the Vatican, Feb. 25-26. Since the charity of Christ is at the core of all we do, .famvin recommends this for your Lenten reading and reflection.

The first aspect which the Encyclical recalls for us is the face of God: who is the God we can encounter in Christ? How faithful and unsurpassable is his love? “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). All our expressions of love, of solidarity, of sharing are but a reflection of that love which is God. He, without ever tiring, pours out his love on us, and we are called to become witnesses to this love in the world. Therefore, we should look to divine charity as to the compass which orients our lives, before embarking on any activity: there we find direction; from charity we learn how to see our brothers and sisters and the world. Ubi amor, ibi oculus, say the Medievals: where there is love, there is the ability to see. Only by “remaining in his love” (cf. Jn 15:1-17) will we know how to understand and love those around us.

Do we realize that our Vincentian mission “…is of utmost importance because, not with words, but with concrete love it can make every person feel loved by the Father, loved as his son or daughter and destined for eternal life with him.”?

Read the brief, but poignant address here.