"There are two criteria that help us distinguish true love from love that is not true". The first is that love is seen "more in deeds than in words". The second is that "love gives itself and receives." Even cloistered monks and nuns "communicate ... a lot: with the Lord, even with those who go in search of a word from God".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - True love is "real, is in actions and is constant", it is not a “soap opera love”.  Moreover it “spreads and is not kept isolated” because "there is no love without communicating it to others, there is no such thing as isolated love". Even cloistered monks and nuns do not really isolate themselves, but communicate a lot. These were Pope Francis’ reflections during his homily at morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta, inspired by today’s Gospel in which Jesus "asks us to remain in his love”.

"There are two criteria - said Francis - that help us distinguish true love from love that is not true.  The first is that love is seen "more in deeds than in words" it is not a “soap opera love", "a fantasy", stories that "make our heart beat a little quicker, but nothing more". It lies in “concrete facts". "Jesus warned his disciples: ‘Those who say' Lord! Lord, 'will not enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father, who kept my commandments'". "In other words, true love is real, it is actions, it is constant love. It is not a simple enthusiasm. Moreover, often it is a painful love: think of the love of Jesus carrying the Cross. The works of love are what Jesus teaches us in the passage from the 25th chapter of St. Matthew. Those who love do this: the protocol of judgement. I was hungry, you gave me to eat, and so on. Concreteness. Even the Beatitudes, which are Jesus’ 'pastoral plan’, are concrete".

"One of the first heresies in Christianity - the Pope added - was that of Gnostic thought "that spoke of a "distant God ... and there was no substance". Instead, the love of the Father "was concrete, He sent His Son... made flesh to save us ".

The second criterion of love is that "it communicates, it does not remain isolated. Love gives itself and receives, it is the communication between the Father and the Son, a communication brought about by the Holy Spirit". "There is no love without communicating, there is no isolated love. Some of you may wonder: 'But Father, monks and nuns are isolated'. No, they communicate ... and a lot: with the Lord, even with those who go in search of a word of God ... True love cannot isolate itself. If it is isolated, it is not love. It is a spiritualist form of selfishness, to remain closed in on oneself, seeking one’s own profit ... It is selfishness'.

"Abiding in the love of Jesus means doing" and "the ability to communicate, to dialogue, both with the Lord and with our brothers and sisters". "It’s so simple. But it is not easy. Because selfishness, self-interest attracts us, and draws us into not doing and not communicating [love]. What does the Lord say to those who will remain in his love? 'I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full'. The Lord who is the love of the Father is joyful, 'and if you remain in my love, that your joy may be full': a joy that often comes with a Cross. But no one - Jesus himself told us – will ever take that joy from you".

The Pope concluded: “May the Lord, give us the grace of joy, that joy that the world cannot give."

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