The gifts one receives from God should be used in loving service of others, rather than kept to oneself, Pope Leo XIV explained in his Aug. 10 Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square.
“In today’s Gospel Jesus invites us to consider how we will invest the treasure that is our life,” Pope Leo said, noting that Jesus instructs to “sell your possessions and give alms.”
“It is not,” Pope Leo said, “simply a matter of sharing the material goods we have, but putting our skills, time, love, presence and compassion at the service of others. In short, everything in God’s plan that makes each of us a priceless and unrepeatable good, a living and breathing asset, must be cultivated and invested in order to grow.”
If they are not cultivated, he warned, they will “dry up and diminish in value,” or be at risk of being lost entirely.
Accordingly, love is essential in order to find true wealth in life, he emphasized.
“We need space, freedom and relationships in order to come to fulfillment and express ourselves,” Pope Leo said. “We need love, which alone transforms and ennobles every aspect of our existence, making us more and more like God. It is not by chance that Jesus pronounces these words while He is on the road to Jerusalem, where He will offer Himself on the cross for our salvation.”
Continuing, he said, “The works of mercy are the most secure and profitable bank where we can entrust the treasure of our existence, because there, as the Gospel teaches us, with ‘two small copper coins’ even the poor widow becomes the richest person in the world.”
He recalled how Saint Augustine said that a person who gives a pound of copper would be “delighted” to receive a pound of silver in return — likewise, there is a transformative effect on the person who gives in love, as he or she will receive eternal life in return.
He quoted Saint Augustine saying that what is given “will be transformed, because you yourself will be transformed.”
“To understand what he means by this,” Pope Leo said, “we can think of a mother who embraces her children: is she not the most beautiful and richest person in the world? Or a boyfriend and girlfriend, when they are together: do they not feel like king and queen? We could think of many other examples.”
He urged the faithful to remain watchful for all opportunities to act with love, whether at one’s parish, home, work, or school.
“This is the type of vigilance that Jesus asks of us: to grow in the habit of being attentive, ready and sensitive to one another, just as He is with us in every moment,” Pope Leo said. “Sisters and brothers, let us entrust to Mary this desire and responsibility: may she, the Morning Star, help us to be the ‘watchmen’ of mercy and peace in a world marked by many divisions.”
Concluding, he noted that Saint Pope John Paul II taught about this watchfulness in an address he gave at the Vigil of Prayer for World Youth Day in 2000.
“And in a beautiful way,” Pope Leo said, “so did the young people who came to Rome for the Jubilee.”