(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says we are loved by God in a way that no theologian can explain.
He was speaking during morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta.
Taking his cue from the first letter of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord says He is “about to create new heavens and a new earth”, Pope Francis said that God’s second creation is even more “wonderful” than the first because when he makes the world over he does so in Jesus Christ. He renews everything and manifests his immense joy:
“We find that the Lord has so much enthusiasm: he speaks of joy and says ‘I will exult in my people’. The Lord thinks of what He will do and of how He will rejoice with His people. It’s almost as if he has a dream. He has a dream. His dream is about us. ‘Oh, how beautiful it will be when we are all together, when this and that person will walk with me… I will exult in that moment!’ To bring you an example that can help us better understand, it’s like when a girl or a boy think of their beloved: ‘when we will be together, when we marry…’. It’s God’s ‘dream’”.
“God – the Pope continued – thinks of each of us and loves each of us. He ‘dreams’ about us. He dreams of how He will rejoice with us. That’s why the Lord wants to ‘re-create’ us, He wants to renew our hearts so that joy can triumph:
“Have you thought about it? The Lord dreams of me! He thinks of me! I am in the Lord’s mind and in His heart! The Lord can change my life! And he has many projects: ‘we will build houses and plant vineyards, we will share our meals’… these are the dreams of someone who is in love…. Thus we can see that the Lord is in love with his people. And when he says to his people: ‘I haven’t chosen you because you are the strongest, the biggest, the most powerful. I have chosen you because you are the smallest of them all. You could add: the most miserable. This is whom I have chosen’. This is love”.
God “is in love with us” – Francis repeated, as he commented on the Gospel reading that speaks of the miraculous healing of the son of a Royal official:
“I don’t think a theologian exists who can explain this: it is impossible to explain. We can only think about it, we can feel, we can cry with joy. The Lord can change us. ‘And what must I do?’ Believe. I must believe that the Lord can change me, that He has the power to do so: just like the man in the Gospel whose son was sick. ‘Sir, come down before my child dies’. ‘You may go (Jesus said to him). Your son will live!’ That man believed in the words of Jesus and had set off. He believed. He believed that Jesus had the power to change his child, the health of his child. And he won. To have faith is to make space for God’s love, to make space for his power, for God’s power. Not for the power of a powerful person, but for the power of one who loves me, who is in love with me and who wants to rejoice with me. This is faith. This is believing: making space for the Lord so that he can come and change me”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday received in audience their Excellencies Giancarlo Terenzi and Guerrino Zanotti, the Captains Regent of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. A Vatican press released revealed that during the cordial discussions, deep satisfaction was expressed regarding the good relations between the Holy See and the Republic of San Marino,…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says we are loved by God in a way that no theologian can explain. He was speaking during morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta. Taking his cue from the first letter of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord says He is “about to create new heavens and a new…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, during the course of the bishops’ ad limina visits.
In remarks prepared for the occasion and delivered on Monday morning, Pope Francis focused on three specific points: meeting the challenge of emigration, with the attendant difficulties of family separations and desires for reunion – at home or abroad – often frustrated by persistent social ills and the still-raw wounds of conflict; the challenges of living in and ministering to a multiethnic and religiously plural population, in which the bishops are called at once to be fathers to all, and custodians of the traditions unique to the Catholic community; the pastoral, ecumenical and interreligious dimensions of leadership that constitute at once a delicate set of circumstances in which to be witnesses to the truth, and a powerful asset in the cause of the Gospel.
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The Holy Father also spoke of the need to cultivate relationships of mutual respect, support and collaboration among the diocesan and religious clergy, saying, “In this Year dedicated to Consecrated Life, we must evidence how all charisms and ministries are ordered to the glory of God and the salvation of all men, making sure that they are all effectively oriented to the up-building of the Kingdom of God.”
Pope Francis concluded his remarks with a look forward to his upcoming visit to the country. “Dear brothers,” he said, “as I wait expectantly to meet your people in Sarajevo, I desire to convey to you the charity, the attention and the closeness of the Church of Rome to you, who are the heirs to so many martyrs and confessors, who, all throughout the much-tried centuries of your country’s history, have kept the faith.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday, during the course of the bishops’ ad limina visits. In remarks prepared for the occasion and delivered on Monday morning, Pope Francis focused on three specific points: meeting the challenge of emigration, with the attendant difficulties of family separations and desires for…
Read more