Pope Francis: charity counts in the final exam, not titles

Pope Francis affirmed this Monday that in the final examination of the Christian life, charity and not titles count, during a meeting with members of different religious institutes that are celebrating their general chapters these days in Rome.

According to Vatican News, the Dominican Missionary Sisters of Saint Sixtus, those of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Presentation of the Most Holy Mary in the Temple and the Vocationist Fathers were the first recipients of the Pontiff’s reflection on discernment. training and charity.

Thus, Pope Francis explained that through discernment we carry out “a laborious work of listening to the Lord, and to oneself and to others” that must be applied both in the “solemn moments of the great elections” and in “the everyday moments of small daily decisions.”

It is a work in which meditation, patient waiting, and courage are put into play that lead “to the understanding of the will of God, suggested to the heart but never imposed,” the Vatican newspaper reports.

“Our world has such a need to rediscover the taste and beauty of deciding, especially regarding definitive options, which determine a decisive turn in life, such as vocational choices,” Pope Francis added before outlining the role that parents have in the discernment of their children.

“Therefore, it needs fathers and mothers to help, especially young people, to understand that being free does not mean remaining eternally at a crossroads, making small ‘getaways’ left and right, without ever really taking a path,” he added. .

Humility and training, keys in educators

Regarding the importance of formation, Pope Francis has urged religious to recognize that it is a “path of growth in holiness that encompasses all of existence,” which is linked to the life of prayer, sacramental frequency and worship.

The Pontiff added that “only those who recognize themselves humbly and constantly in formation” can also offer good formation to others. In this sense, he encouraged us to be “attentive to the concerns of the heart,” because it is one thing to have a “calm” heart and another thing to be “at peace, but restless.”

Furthermore, he expressed his conviction that “in our time there is an urgent need for educators who know how to become loving companions of the people entrusted to them” in a context “characterized by the dizzying and continuous circulation of information, but, on the other hand, dramatically poor in relationships.” human”.

To talk about charity, Pope Francis considered that any Christian, and particularly consecrated ones, must keep in mind as a criterion chapter 25 of the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, which speaks of the final judgment.

“The Lord will not ask us: ‘What have you studied? How many titles do you have?’ (…) Here is the effective antidote to overcome, in us and around us, the culture of discard: please do not discard people, do not select people with worldly criteria: how important they are, how much money they have. ..those worldly criteria, out. Do not discard, but receive, embrace everyone, love everyone,” the Pontiff prayed.

The Pope urged the religious so that “in their assemblies the impulse of gratuitousness and selfless love, thanks to which their presence in the Church began, is always alive and palpitating.”