Pope:
God seeks us out and his love for us is boundless
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Francis says God’s love for us is without limits whereas human
beings often lack this generosity and have a tendency to weigh up situations.
His words came during his homily at Mass on Tuesday (20th October) celebrated
in the Santa Marta residence.
Taking
his inspiration from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, the Pope’s homily was a
reflection on God’s boundless love to us, saying he doesn’t stand still but
instead goes out to search for each one of us. He compared God’s abundant love
for us to that of humans who, he noted, often lack this generosity and are too
accustomed to weighing up and rationing when we decide to donate something that
belongs to us. Our salvation, he explained, lies in this friendship between us
and Him.
“Just
as God gives us friendship in this case and all of us our salvation. He
gives and what will he give us when we carry out a good deed: Will he give us a
good measure, crammed to the top, filled to the brim, overflowing… but all this
makes us think about abundance and this word “abundance” is repeated three
times in this reading. God gives in abundance up to the point as Paul
wrote in his final summing up: “But however much sin increased, grace was
always greater.” It abounds everything. And this is God’s love for us,
without limits. All of Himself.”
Pope
Francis goes on to explain that God’s heart is not closed but always open and
his love is boundless just like that of the father in the gospel who every day
scans the horizon to see if his son has returned to him. And when we
arrive, just like that son, he embraces and kisses us and celebrates our
return.
“God
is not a petty God, He doesn’t know pettiness. He gives everything. God
is not somebody who stays still: He is watching and waiting for us to
convert. God is a God who goes out, He goes out to search, for each one of us.
But is this true? Every day He searches, he is searching for us. As he already
has done and already said, in the Parable of the lost sheep or the lost
coin: He is searching. He is always doing this.”
The
Pope reminded his listeners that there is more rejoicing in heaven for a single
sinner who converts than for 100 people who remain good. At the same
time, it is not easy for us humans to understand God’s love. It is thanks
to a grace that we understand it, said the Pope, recalling an 84 year old
religious sister that he knew in his diocese who he said still goes out to
visit ill people in hospital and speaks to them with a smile about God’s love.
Pope Francis said this sister had received the grace to understand the mystery
of God’s boundless love, a grace that so many do not receive.
“It’s
true, we always tend to weigh up the situation or things with the measurements
that we have and our measurements are small. For this reason, we’d do well to
ask the Holy Spirit for this grace, pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to
draw closer, at least a little bit, in order to understand this love and have
the desire to be embraced and kissed with that boundless love.”
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