Pope Francis:
You can't love only when it's convenient
Waiting for the Pope at the General Audience. (Vatican Media) |
Pope Francis continues his
catechesis on the Ten Commandments, reflecting this week on the Sixth Word:
"You shall not commit adultery."
By Christopher Wells
In his catechesis at the
General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis said the primary call of the Sixth
Commandment – “You shall not commit adultery” – is a call to fidelity and
loyalty in our relationships.
We cannot love another only
as long as it is convenient, he said. True love for another is revealed in
fidelity, which is a characteristic of “free, mature, responsible human
relationships.” Even in friendships we see that a true friend is one who is
there for us even in trials.
This speaks to a real human
need: the need to be loved without conditions. Without this kind of love, the
Pope said, we feel incomplete, even if we often don’t recognise it. When that
love is lacking, we seek to fill the emptiness within us with substitutes,
which are only a reflection of true love.
So, the Pope said, we can
find ourselves overestimating the value of physical attraction. Attraction is a
gift from God, but it is ordered to a faithful and authentic relationship with
the other person. Quoting Saint John Paul II, Pope Francis said we must learn,
“with perseverance and consistency, the meaning of the body.”
“The call to married life,”
Pope Francis continued, “requires an accurate discernment of the quality of the
relationship,” including a suitable period of preparation. This cannot simply be
a few meetings of “marriage prep” at the parish, but rather a true
catechumenate. And it must be based, not simply on good will, or a vague hope
that “things will work out,” but on the faithful love of God.
The Pope said that the Sixth
Commandment helps us understand that fidelity is a “way of being, a style of
life.” Fidelity, based on the faithfulness of Christ, must enter into our whole
life, so that it permeates all our thoughts and actions.
For this to happen, the
fidelity of God must enter our lives. Christ’s fidelity “can take from us an
adulterous heart and give us a faithful heart,” Pope Francis said. Only He can
help us to give ourselves completely, without “parentheses,” and with fidelity
to the very end. Our communion with Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
is the source of communion among ourselves, and helps us to faithfully live our
commitments to one another.
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