13 December 2014

Pope Francis on What Is Missing in Our Spiritual Lives

"In [a recent] homily Pope Francis said that God's love is always expressed in tenderness, and cautioned that if we haven't experienced this, then something is missing in our relationship with the Lord.

"'The grace of God is another matter: it is closeness, it is tenderness. This rule is always valid,' the Pope told those present in the Vatican's Saint Martha guesthouse for his Dec. 11 daily Mass.

"'If, in your relationship with the Lord, you do not feel that He loves you tenderly, you are missing something, you still have not understood what grace is, you have not yet received grace which is this closeness.'"

In a recent homily on the readings for the Thursday of the Second Week of Advent, Pope Francis reflected on we are sometimes tempted to think of grace a s kind of merchandise and strongly encouraged us not to turn our spiritual lives into a "spirituality of law" in which we gain grace through a point system of good work. He recommended that, instead, we open our hearts to the tenderness of God, who is capable of bringing spiritual freedom.

To access a news report on the Pope’s homily, please visit:

Catholic News Agency: Pope: Missing something in your spiritual life? It's probably love (11 DEC 14)

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