Monday, March 14, 2022 — Second Week of Lent — Your words, Lord, are spirit and they are life. You have the words of eternal life — Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6, 36-38

Lent is also a time to reflect on our final encounter with God. One of the themes of this reflection is our way of loving our neighbour. With today's Gospel, we will assess whether our way of loving our neighbors is authentic. Note that true love for another always refers to how God has loved us. The love of God is therefore the source and the model of our love for our neighbour.

Love of neighbor is authentic if it goes beyond the norm of reciprocity that distinguishes all good human relationships, because with this love our enemies will also have their place in our lives. To love, in this sense, is to welcome the other, to give him another chance by forgiving him. God himself, as Sacred Scripture attests to us, has shown us: he does not stop starting over, he does not stop offering his love to each infidelity of his people.

Loving others, as the Father loves us, means: not judging them hastily, not condemning them, sincerely and trustingly giving them another chance to improve, giving them everything they need with generosity. But all this is impossible if we are not helped by the grace of God and have the faith to see beyond the faults committed against us by our neighbor.