General Audience: God of Mercy is not indifferent
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
on Wednesday spoke about God’s mercy throughout history, and in our own day.
In his weekly General
Audience, Pope Francis noted that the Lord always accompanied the people of
Israel, and showed how God continues to work in our own time as well.
He pointed to the story of
Joseph and his brothers as an example of grace and reconciliation, and said the
Jubilee Year of Mercy was a good opportunity to reconcile with family members.
The example of Moses, who led
the Israelites from slavery to freedom, shows that “mercy cannot remain
indifferent in the face of the suffering of the oppressed, the cry of those
subject to violence, reduced to slavery, condemned to death.” Suffering is a
reality in every age, a reality that can make us feel impotent, and tempt us to
indifference. But, Pope Francis said, “God is not indifferent, He never looks
away from human suffering.” The God of mercy hears the groaning of the poor and
intervenes to save them, especially by “raising up men and women able to hear
the cries of the suffering, and working in favour of the oppressed.”
As Moses was God’s instrument
leading the people of Israel to freedom, we too, especially in this Year of
Mercy, can be mediators of God’s mercy. “There are so many good things we can
do!” the Pope said.
Turning again to the history
of the people of Israel, Pope Francis spoke of how God made a covenant with the
people, creating a special, privileged relationship with them. This special
relationship, brought to fulfilment through the Blood of Christ, “destroys our
sin through forgiveness, and makes us definitively children of God.” Pope
Francis concluded his address with the hope that, in this Year of Mercy, we
too, precisely because of the mercy God has shown us, might cooperate with God
in accomplishing works of mercy.
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