“Jesus’ words challenge us. While we try to remain within the ordinary with utilitarian reasoning, he asks us to open ourselves up to the extraordinary … a freely-given love,” Francis said.
He added: “It is normal for us to love those who love us, and to be friends of those who are friends to us; yet Jesus provokes us by saying: if you act in this way, ‘what more are you doing than others?’”
Pope Francis noted the extraordinary “imbalance of love” in Jesus’ decision to “embrace the cross.”
“God loves us while we are sinners, not because we are good or able to give something back to him,” he said.
“Brothers and sisters, God’s love is a love always in excess, always beyond calculation, always disproportionate. And today he is also asking us to live in this way, because only in this way will we truly bear witness to him,” he added.