As he mentioned the encyclical "Deus caritas est", the Pope recalled that he wanted to show love "as the secret of our personal and ecclesial conversion". "The awareness that in Him God Himself donated Himself for us through to His death he continued must urge us not to live for ourselves any more, but for Him, and with Him for the others". Love, commented the Holy Father, "then must turn into concrete gestures for our neighbours, especially for the poor and the needy, without ever failing to subordinate the value of good deeds to the sincerity of the relationsip with the Father who is in heaven, who sees into the depths and will reward those who do good in a humble and unselfish way". "The concreteness of love went on Benedict XVI is one of the fundamental factors of the life of Christians, who are encouraged by Jesus to be the light of the world". "This recommendation specified the Pope comes to us at the right time, as this is the beginning of Lent", so that we can understand better and better than "love is not for the Church a sort of social assistance work", but "it is the inalienable expression of its very essence". "True love concluded the Pope turns into gestures that do not leave anyone out, following the example of the good Samaritan who, with great open-mindedness, helped a stranger in distress who he had happened to meet along the way".
