“The Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction. True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution of tenderness.”
Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium 88.
Two aspects of this quote by Pope Francis moved me. First, I love his point that it’s risky, messy and challenging to live out the gospel. Second, I appreciated that the gospel calls us to tender, self-giving service in community.
I am lousy at tenderness. I am more of a bull in a china shop. If you see any tenderness in me it’s the gospel at work in my life. I am learning that my role in living out the gospel is to love and serve others and allow Christ’s generosity to shine through me (cf. Galatians 2:20).
Such a revolution in tenderness beckons the lost to be reconciled to God. No wonder the Gospel leads us to this! This is how the incarnate Christ drew people to Himself.