"The Lord proposes that we abandon the logic of self-interest and not measure love on the scales of calculations and conveniences. He invites us not to respond to evil with evil, to dare to do good, to risk giving, even if we receive little or nothing in return. Because it is this love that slowly transforms conflicts, shortens distances, overcomes enmities and heals the wounds of hatred".
Pope Francis said this in the Angelus commenting on the day's Gospel, in which - he observed - the words of Jesus "are demanding and seem paradoxical: He invites us to turn the other cheek and to love even our enemies", where " it is normal for us to love those who love us and be friends with those who are friends with us".
In general, he noted with regard to this "extraordinary" behavior, "we instead try to have everything in order and under control enough, so that it corresponds to our expectations: fearing not to receive the return or to expose ourselves too much and then be disappointed , we prefer to love only those who love us, do good only to those who are good to us, be generous only with those who can return the favor; and to those who treat us badly we respond with the same coin, so we are all in balance".
But for the Lord, the Pontiff warned, "this is not enough! We would say: this is not Christian. If we remain in the ordinary, in the balance between giving and receiving, things do not change. If God were to follow this logic, we would not have hope of salvation! But, fortunately for us, God's love is always 'extraordinary', that is, it goes beyond the usual criteria with which we humans live our relationships".
This is how Jesus' words "challenge us".
"While we try to remain in the ordinary of utilitarian reasoning - Francis underlined - He asks us to open ourselves to the extraordinary of a gratuitous love; while we always try to balance the accounts, Christ stimulates us to experience the imbalance of love. Jesus he's not a good accountant, he always goes to the imbalance of love. Let's not be surprised by this".
"If God hadn't unbalanced himself, we would never have been saved - he added - Jesus would not have come to seek us while we were lost and far away, he would not have loved us to the end, he would not have embraced the cross for us, who did not deserve everything this and we could give him nothing in return".
"Here, God loves us while we are sinners, not because we are good or able to give him something back - the Pope said -. God's love is always in excess, always beyond calculation, always disproportionate. Today he asks us too to live in this way, because only in this way will we truly witness it".
"So we can ask ourselves: do I, each of us, in my life, follow the logic of self-interest or that of gratuitousness? - he concluded -. The extraordinary love of Christ is not easy, but it is possible".