Pope at Angelus: Love involves detachment, loss, hospitality
By Devin Watkins
Pope Leo XIV prayed the midday Marian prayer of the Angelus on Sunday with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel (Mt 10:37-42), the Pope explored Jesus’ requirements for discipleship and what it means to commit ourselves entirely to a loving relationship with Him.
Love, he said, requires detachment, loss, and hospitality.
Jesus, noted the Pope, gives the example of an adult child who must leave their parents in order to follow Him.
This detachment in our relationships, he said, implies that we can only find fullness in our relationships through the love that Christ gives us.
“Consider married life,” he said. “It can only be lived fully by ‘leaving’ one’s parents’ home, in order to commit to the life of marriage.”
At the same time, parents must raise their children by teaching them to “stand on their own two feet” and find fulfillment and happiness in life.
Pope Leo went on to say that an important aspect of love is loss, even if it is difficult to comprehend in our world that seems obsessed with possessing.
“Love only bears fruit in self-giving,” he said, “when we are willing to lose a little of ourselves to make room for another, to lose a little time to listen to a friend, and to lose a little comfort to share in a time of hardship.”
Jesus also says that we must lose our own life in order to truly find it, which allows us to open ourselves to the joy of love.
Christians, said the Pope, are called to embrace the cross and offer ourselves as Jesus did, so as to receive life in abundance.
“It we live by the logic of the gift of self,” he said, “we too will be capable of bringing forth new life in our relationships.”
Pope Leo XIV then focused on the gift of hospitality, saying it is essential to expressing love.
“Love is expressed through concrete choices and actions, by a commitment made up of small daily gestures, such as offering a glass of water to someone who is thirsty,” he said.
Just as Jesus sent His disciples to preach without provisions, we too must learn to accept and give hospitality to others.
“By welcoming those who come in Jesus’ name, we welcome him and the heavenly Father who sent him,” he concluded. “Indeed, love for the Lord always involves welcoming our brothers and sisters.”
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