
CNA Newsroom, Feb 2, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).
In a profound reflection delivered during Sunday’s Angelus prayer, Pope Francis emphasized how Jesus Christ reveals the ultimate criterion by which all history is judged: love.
“Whoever loves lives, whoever hates dies,” the pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
Drawing from the Gospel of Luke (2:22-40), which recounts Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, the pontiff focused on three significant aspects of Christ revealed through Simeon’s prophecy: salvation, light, and a sign of contradiction.
“God is present among His people — not because He dwells within four walls, but because He lives as a man among men,” Francis explained, highlighting the radical newness of this moment in salvation history.
The pope noted how Mary and Joseph were “deeply moved and astonished” as Simeon identified Jesus through these three significant words: salvation, light, and a sign of contradiction.
Explaining the first aspect, Francis emphasized that Jesus embodies universal salvation, calling it “an awe-inspiring truth emphasizing that God’s redemptive love is fully embodied in one person.”
Regarding the second characteristic, the pope described how Jesus illuminates the world “much like the rising sun, dispelling the darkness of suffering, evil, and death” which continues to afflict humanity today.
Finally, addressing Jesus as a sign of contradiction, Francis explained how Christ reveals the deeper truths of human hearts, with history ultimately judged by the criterion of love.
Concluding his reflection, the pope encouraged the faithful to examine their spiritual expectations, asking: “What am I waiting for in my life? What is my greatest hope? Does my heart desire to see the face of the Lord?”
He then invited all to pray together that Mary “may accompany us through the lights and shadows of history on our journey to the Lord.”
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“Whoever loves lives, whoever hates dies, the pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord”. Unless the love given loves the sin as well as the recipient. The giver may claim neutrality regarding the sin, but there cannot be neutrality regarding sin unless you love the sin or do not consider it sin.
Love is a double edged sword that can be given indiscriminately or justly. Indiscriminately, it can be freely offered with or without a just response to the gift. If the recipient lives a life of evil justice insists on reparation. Love the sinner hate the sin. Suffering is intrinsic to the sign of contradiction, the Cross of crucifixion. He who was free of sin suffered and died for those of us who sin that we too may be free of sin. A freedom that can only be achieved by our emulation of Christ’s death to sin. What is absent from the Feast of Presentation Angelus is the cross of suffering in reparation for our sins.