Holy Father Pope Francis marking the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, remarked on how it could be said that the festivity celebrates God’s love. The Pontiff conveyed that it is not easy to understand God’s love as is narrated in the passage from today liturgical reading in which the Apostle Paul speaks of preaching to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ.
As reported by Vatican news, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “It is not us who first loved God, it’s the other way around: it is He who loved us first. The prophets used the symbol of the almond blossom to explain this reality highlighting the fact that the almond blossom is the first to bloom in spring. God is like that: he is always first. He’s the first to wait for us, the first to love us, the first to help us.” Further, His Holiness added, “It is a love that cannot be understood. A love that surpasses all knowledge. It surpasses everything. The love of God is so great; a poet described it as a bottomless sea without shores. This is the love that we must try to understand, the love that we receive.” Recalling the words of the prophet Hosea, the Pontiff explained that “God did not reveal his love through power but by loving His people, teaching them to walk, taking them in His arms, caring for them. How does God manifest his love? With great works? No: He makes himself smaller and smaller with gestures of tenderness and goodness. He approaches His children and with his closeness He makes us understand the greatness of love. Works of mercy pave the path of love that Jesus teaches us in continuity with God’s great love for us!”
His Holiness Pope Francis concluded saying that “We do not need great discourse on love, but men and women who know how to do these little things for Jesus, for the Father.”
