Mercy: The Lord's Strongest Message.

Pope Francis' First Papal Homily

Woman Caught In Adultery (edited)
by John Martin Borg4

The crowd wanted to stone a woman who had committed adultery. Jesus told them "let him among you who is without sin, cast the first stone" and then told the woman "go and sin no more".

"I think even we are sometimes like these people, who on the one hand want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand, sometimes we like to stone others and condemn others. The message of Jesus is this: mercy," he said. "I say in all humility that this is the strongest message of the Lord: mercy" Francis said, speaking in a soft voice.

"The Lord never tires of forgiving, never! It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness," he said. "Let us ask for the grace of never tiring of asking for forgiveness because he never tires of forgiving," he said.3

Pope Francis'
First encyclical is on mercy

The first major encyclical by Francis is a Sunday sermon that lasted all but a few minutes. The new Pope speaks off-the-cuff from the Ambon of the small parish church of Saint Anne, inside the Vatican walls: "The message of Jesus is mercy. For me, I say this humbly, it is the Lord’s most powerful message."

We live in a society that makes us less and less used to recognizing our responsibilities and accepting them: it is always the others, in fact, who make mistakes. It is always the others who are immoral; it is always someone else's fault, never ours. Also, sometimes we have experienced a certain reverse clericalism dedicated only to "regularising" the lives of the people, through the imposition of prerequisites and bans that stifle freedom and add heaviness to an already exhausting daily life. Ready to condemn rather than accept. Able to judge, but not to bend down on the miseries of humanity. The message of mercy, the heart of this first unwritten encyclical by the Pope, simultaneously demolishes both clichés.

The first and only step required to get an experience of mercy, Francis explained, is to recognize that we are in need of mercy. "Jesus has come for us, when we recognize that we are sinners," he said. It is enough not to copy the Pharisee who, standing before the altar, thanked God for not being "like all the other men." If we're like that Pharisee, if we believe we are righteous, "then we do not know the heart of the Lord, and we shall not ever have the joy of feeling this mercy!" Those accustomed to judging others, to feeling at peace, to considering themselves righteous and good, do not feel the need to be embraced and forgiven. And instead, there are some who feel it, but think they are irredeemable, because of too many bad actions.

In this regard, the Pope spoke about a dialogue which took place in a confessional where a man, hearing this about mercy, had replied to Bergoglio: "Oh, father, if you knew my life, you would not speak like that! I have done very bad things!" And he replied: "Better! Go to Jesus: he likes it if you tell him these things! He forgets, He has a special ability to forget. He kisses you, He embraces you, and He says to you: 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now, on, sin no more' That is the only advice he gives you. After a month, we are in the same condition … Let us return to the Lord. The Lord never gets tired of forgiving: never! It is we who get tired of asking him for forgiveness. And let us ask for the grace of never tiring of asking pardon, for He never tires of pardoning.”

God never tires of accepting and forgiving, if only we can recognize that we are in need of his forgiveness. This is the first unwritten major encyclical of the new Pope. They will say: but this has always been the heart of the Christian message. Yet, from the last four days, Francis's simple and deep words are a breath of oxygen. For many, exactly because they show the side of a Church that does not rub people's faces in their fragility and wounds, but that heals them with the medicine of mercy.4

Pope Francis on Mercy

If Blessed John Paul II was known as the “Pope of Divine Mercy,” that title now seems particularly apt for Pope Francis. Here are some beautiful observations that Jorge Mario Bergoglio made in a talk he gave in 2001, shortly after John Paul elevated him to the cardinalate:

When Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?”, “his ‘Yes’ was not the result of an effort of will, it was not the fruit of a ‘decision’ made by the young man Simon: it was the emergence, the coming to the surface of an entire vein of tenderness and adherence that made sense because of the esteem he had for Him – therefore an act of reason;” it was a reasonable act, “which is why he couldn’t not say ‘Yes.’”

We cannot understand the dynamic of this encounter which brings forth wonder and adherence if it has not been triggered – forgive me the use of this word – by mercy. Only someone who has encountered mercy, who has been caressed by the tenderness of mercy, is happy and comfortable with the Lord. I beg the theologians who are present not to turn me in to the Sant’Uffizio or to the Inquisition; however, forcing things a bit, I dare to say that the privileged locus of the encounter is the caress of the mercy of Jesus Christ on my sin.

Jesus is encountered, just as 2,000 years ago, in a human presence, the Church, the company of those whom He assimilates to Himself, His Body, the sign and sacrament of His Presence. … It is a question of starting to say ["Yes"] to Christ, and saying it often. It is impossible to desire it without asking for it. And if someone starts to ask for it, then he begins to change. Besides, if someone asks for it, it is because in the depths of his being he feels attracted, called, looked at, awaited. This is the experience of Augustine: there from the depths of my being, something attracts me toward Someone who looked for me first, is waiting for me first, is the almond flower of the prophets, the first to bloom in spring. It is the quality which God possesses and which I take the liberty of defining by using a Buenos Aires word: God, in this case Jesus Christ, always primerea, goes ahead of us. When we arrive, He is already there waiting.

He who encounters Jesus Christ feels the impulse to witness Him or to give witness of what he has encountered, and this is the Christian calling. To go and give witness. You can’t convince anybody. The encounter occurs. You can prove that God exists, but you will never be able, using the force of persuasion, to make anyone encounter God. This is pure grace. Pure grace. In history, from its very beginning until today, grace always primerea, grace always comes first, then comes all the rest.5