Invest in Love

According to the Catholic News Service, between 6,000 and 7,000 people attended today's Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the World Day of the Poor.  Most of them are now living in Europe, but they are migrants and refugees from around the world.  In his homily during the Mass, Pope Francis stressed, "What we invest in love remains, the rest vanishes."  The entire homily (available here) merits our reflection.  Here are a few excerpts:

• All too often, we have the idea that we haven't done anything wrong, so we rest content, presuming that we are good and just.  But in this way we risk acting like the unworthy servant [in today's Gospel] . . . But to do no wrong is not enough.  God is not an inspector looking for unstamped tickets; he is a Father looking for children to whom he can entrust his property and plans.  It is sad when the Father of love does not receive a generous response of love from his children, who do no more than keep the rules and follow the commandments.
• Omission is also the great sin where the poor are concerned.  Here is has a specific name: indifference.  It is when we say, "That doesn't regard me; it's not my business; it's society's problem." It is when we turn away from a brother or sister in need, when we change channels as soon as a disturbing question comes up, when we grow indignant at evil but do nothing about it.  God will not ask if we felt righteous indignation, but whether we did some good.
• Drawing near to the poor in our midst will touch our lives.  It will remind us of what really counts: to love God and our neighbor.  Only this lasts forever, everything else passes away.  What we invest in love remains, the rest vanishes. . . . This is the choice before us: to live in order to gain things on earth, or to give things away in order to gain heaven.  Where heaven is concerned, what matters most is not what we have, but what we give.