Thursday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day
Blessed John-Paul II, Pope from 1978 to 2005
Encyclical « Dives in Misericordia » § 13 (trans. © copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
"Her many sins have been forgiven"
It is precisely because sin exists in the world, which "God so loved...that he gave his only Son,” (Jn 3,16) that God, who "is love,” (1Jn 4,8) cannot reveal Himself otherwise than as mercy. This corresponds not only to the most profound truth of that love which God is, but also to the whole interior truth of man and of the world which is man's temporary homeland... Therefore, the Church professes and proclaims conversion. Conversion to God always consists in discovering His mercy, that is, in discovering that love which is “patient and kind” (cf. 1Cor 13,4)... the love to which the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Cor 1,3) is faithful to the uttermost consequences in the history of His covenant with man; even to the cross and to the death and resurrection of the Son. Conversion to God is always the fruit of the"rediscovery of this Father, who is “rich in mercy” (Eph 2,4).
Authentic knowledge of the God of mercy, the God of tender love, is a constant and inexhaustible source of conversion, not only as a momentary interior act but also as a permanent attitude, as a state of mind. Those who come to know God in this way, who "see" Him in this way, can live only in a state of being continually converted to Him. They live, therefore, “in a state of conversion”; and it is this state of conversion which marks out the most profound element of the pilgrimage of every man and woman on earth as those who are “on the way”.
It is obvious that the Church professes the mercy of God, revealed in the crucified and risen Christ, not only by the word of her teaching but above all through the deepest pulsation of the life of the whole People of God. By means of this testimony of life, the Church fulfills the mission proper to the People of God, the mission which is a sharing in and, in a sense, a continuation of the messianic mission of Christ Himself.
| Thursday, September 19, 2013 St. Francis Mary of Camporosso (Memorial) |
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