Holy Father Pope Francis during the celebration of the Divine Mercy Sunday liturgy focused on the quality of ‘doubting Thomas who eventually falls in love with the Lord’. His Holiness Pope Francis conveyed that we can begin to savor this newfound love through the same gift Jesus granted on the evening of his Resurrection: the forgiveness of sins.
As reported by Vatican Radio, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “Before forgiveness, we may hide behind the doors of shame, resignation and sin. Grace helps us understand shame as the first step towards an encounter and as a secret invitation of the soul that needs the Lord to overcome evil.” Further, His Holiness added, “Resignation tempts us to believe that nothing changes when we find ourselves lapsing, like the disheartened disciples after the Jesus chapter of their lives seemed finished. At a certain point, we discover that the power of life is to receive God’s forgiveness and to go forward from forgiveness to forgiveness.”
His Holiness Pope Francis concluded his homily by reminding the faithful that “When we go to confession, we will learn that the very thing we believe separates us from God – sin – instead “becomes the place where we encounter him. There the God who is wounded by love comes to meet our wounds.”
