Pope:
God’s pardon is not a sentence from a law court
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Francis says a good priest knows how to empathize and get
involved in the life of his flock. He said God pardons us like a father and not
like an official in a law court. The Pope’s words came during his homily at
Mass on Friday at the Santa Marta residence that was given in Spanish.
The
focus of Pope Francis’s homily was God’s compassion for each one of us and for
the whole of humanity and how He sent His Son to “heal, regenerate and renew”
the human race.
“It’s
interesting that in the parable that we all know of the Prodigal Son, it’s said
that when the father - who's the figure of a forgiving God – sees his son
arriving he feels compassion. God’s compassion isn’t about feeling pity: it’s
nothing at all to do with that."
“I
can feel pity,” he explained, “for a dog that is dying,” but God’s compassion
is different, it means “empathizing with another person’s problem, empathizing
with that person’s situation.”
“Jesus
healed people but he is not a healer. No! He healed people as a sign, as
a sign of God’s compassion, to save that person, to bring back the lost sheep
to the fold, the money that went missing from the woman’s purse. God has
compassion. God loves us like a Father. He does this for each one of us.
And when God forgives, he forgives like a Father and not like an official in
the law court who reads out the verdict saying: ‘Acquitted for lack of
evidence.’ He forgives us from within his heart. He forgives because he loved
that person.”
Jesus,
continued the Pope, was sent to bring the good news, “to free those who are
oppressed” and “to enter the heart of each one of us, to free us from our sins
and evil.”
“This
is what a priest does: he feels empathy towards others and becomes involved in
the life of people because he is a priest, like Jesus is a priest. How
many times – and then we must go to confession – do we criticize those priests
who are not interested in what is happening to those in their congregation, who
don’t care about them. He is not a good priest! A good priest is one who
empathizes.”
Pope
Francis said a good priest is somebody who gets involved in all human problems.
He concluded his homily by paying tribute to Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan,
who was present at the Mass, to celebrate his 60 years of priesthood. He
praised the Cardinal’s work on behalf of the Church when he headed the
Dicastery for Health Workers and said let us give thanks to God for these 60
years and for God’s compassion.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét