The Pope explained the motives and expectations of the Jubilee of Mercy
December2,2015
The Pope explained the motives and expectations of the Jubilee of Mercy
Vatican City, December 2, 2015 (VIS)- The Italian magazine '' Credere '' published an interview today with Pope Francisco shortly before the start of the Jubilee of Mercy, in which he explains the motives and expectations this announcement and personal experience of God's mercy. Follow extensive excerpts from the interview.
'' The issue of mercy? says Francisco - it is emphasized strongly in the Church from Paul VI. John Paul II stressed what with the Dives in Misericordia, the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska and the institution of the feast of the Divine Mercy in the Octave of Easter. In this vein, I felt there as a desire of the Lord to show mercy to men. Therefore, it did not occur to me, I followed a tradition recently renovated, but always existed .... It is obvious that the world needs mercy, compassion needed, ie, '' suffer with ''. We are used to bad news, the cruel news and elderly atrocidadades that offend the name of God and life. The world needs to discover that God is Father, that there is mercy, that cruelty is not the way, that the sentence is not the way, because the Church sometimes follows a hard line, is tempted to follow one line hard, the temptation to emphasize only the moral standards, but many people are left out. It came to my mind the image of the Church as a field hospital after the battle: how much people hurt and destroyed! ... I think this is the time of mercy. We are all sinners, we all have weights within. I felt that Jesus wants to open the door of your heart, that the Father wants to show his tender mercy, and this sends us the Spirit .... It is the year of forgiveness, reconciliation year. On the one hand we see the arms trade ... the killing of innocent people in the cruelest possible way, the exploitation of people ... .. children is underway sacrilege against humanity, because man is sacred, It is the image of the living God. And the Father says: "Deteneosy come to me."
To the second question on the significant role played in the life of Francis who said several times that as all believers feel sinner - God's mercy, the Pope replied: '' I am a sinner ... I'm sure it. I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked with mercy. As I said to the prisoners in Bolivia, I am a forgiven man. God looked at me with compassion and forgave me. Even now I make mistakes and sins, and I confess every fifteen or twenty days. And if I confess is because I need to feel that God's mercy is still in me. ''
Francisco recalls having that feeling specially the September 21, 1953, when he felt the need to go into a church and confess to a priest who knew and thereafter his life was different; He decided to become a priest and confessor that, leukemia patient, accompanied him for a year. '' He died the following year, says the Pope After the funeral I cried bitterly, I felt completely lost, as if afraid that God had forsaken me. That was the time when I stumbled upon the mercy of God and is closely linked with my episcopal motto. September 21 is San Mateo, and the Venerable Bede, talking about the conversion of Matthew says that Jesus looked Matteo "atqve eligendo miserabs" ... The literal translation would be "misericordiando and choosing" almost like a work of craftsmanship. "What misericordió: be the literal translation of the text. ''
'' The Jubilee of mercy may be an opportunity to rediscover the "motherhood" of God? Is there a more "feminine" aspect of the Church should be valued? '' It is the third question.
'' Yes God answers the Holy Father Isaiah says in the book that even if a mother could forget her child, '' I, however I will not forget you. "Here the maternal dimension of God does not look all the world understands when speaking of the "motherhood of God" is not a popular language - in the best sense of the word seems a word to elect, so I prefer to use tenderness, typical of a mother, the tenderness of God , tenderness born of fathers loins. God is father and mother. ''
Asked if the discovery of a merciful God, the more 'emotional' 'that is softened and touched by humans can affect a change in attitude towards others, Francisco says:' 'find out it will lead to have a more tolerant, more patient, more tender ... In 1994, during the Synod, in a group meeting, I said that it was necessary to establish the revolution of attitude and tenderness ... today I still say that the revolution is to tenderness, because it justice and everything else is derived .... If you put yourself in the place of the other person, instead of thinking of your own pockets ... things change. Revolution tenderness is what we need to grow as a result of this year of mercy: the tenderness of God for each of us. Each of us has to say: "I am wretched, but God loves me, then I also have to love others the same way."
The journalist recalls the famous "moon speech" of John XXIII, when, one night greeted the faithful, saying: "Take a caress your children '', which has become an icon of the Church of tenderness and he asked whether the mercy help Christian communities to develop and renew itself.
'' When I see the sick, the elderly, I get a spontaneous caress observes the Pontiff is the first gesture that makes mom and dad with newborn baby, the gesture of "I love you"? '' I want to do well. "
Finally does the Pope have some special gesture during the Jubilee to witness God's mercy? '' There will be many gestures but Friday of every month, I will make a different gesture, '' concludes Francisco.