Life is a time for giving - pope

(ANSA) - Vatican City, November 7 - Pope Frabcis said at his weekly general audience on Wednesday that life is a time for giving, not possessing, according to Vatican News. Continuing his catechesis on the Ten Commandments, the pontiff focused on the Seventh: You shall not steal.
    He noted that there is no culture that does not condemn theft and the misuse of our possessions. But, he says, it is worthwhile to reflect more deeply on the theme of ownership "in light of Christian wisdom." Ownership, he went on, is a responsibility; we can only truly possess "that which we know how to give." If there are things which we cannot give away, "it is because those things possess me, have power over me, and I am a slave to it." Here, the pope said, we can once more look to the example of Christ Himself, who, "though He was God, 'did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself'; and He has enriched us with His poverty." While humanity continually strives for more, "God redeems humanity by becoming poor." What makes us truly rich, Francis said, "is not goods, but love." The Holy Father concluded his catechesis with the reflection that "once more Jesus Christ reveals to us the full meaning of the Scriptures. 'You shall not steal' means 'love with your goods, profit by your means to love as you can. Then your life will become good and the possession will truly become a gift.
    Because life is not a time for possessing but for giving.'"