GENERAL AUDIENCE: GOD PUNISHES BUT ALWAYS OFFERS MERCY

VATICAN CITY, JUL 25, 2001 (VIS) - This morning, the Pope held the first general audience since his vacation in Valle d'Aosta from July 9 to 20. As is his custom during the summer, the Pope came to the Vatican by helicopter from his summer residence in Castelgandolfo.

Before the 8,500 people in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope spoke today of the Canticle of Tobit, whose message, he said, "is clear: those who do good, above all opening their hearts to the needs of their neighbor, are pleasing to the Lord, and He will eventually come to the aid of those who are tested."

It is in this perspective, the Pope continued, that the hymn of Tobit is understood. "Punishment appears thus as a sort of divine pedagogy, in which, nevertheless, the final word is always reserved for mercy. ... One can therefore trust absolutely in God, Who never abandons His creatures." Suffering takes on "a mysteriously positive meaning when it is lived in a spirit of abandonment to God's plan. ... Our reference point can only be the Cross of Christ in which the mystery of the world's suffering finds a profound response."

John Paul II stated that "to the sinners who are punished for their injustices, Tobit's hymn addresses a call to conversion and opens the marvelous perspective of a 'reciprocal' conversion of God and man." He underlined that "sin is a tragedy not so much because it draws on us the punishments of God, but because it pushes Him away from our heart."

"And it is for this reason," the Pope concluded, "that the Canticle directs our gaze to the face of God considered as Father, inviting us to blessing and praise. ... Then, in Jesus, this face of the Father will shine and His limitless mercy will be revealed."

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