Vatican City, 15 March 2015 (VIS) At
midday the Holy Father appeared at the window of his study to recite
the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square and, as
usual, commented on day's Gospel reading, which this Sunday was
Jesus' words to Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son”. “God loves us!” exclaimed the
Pope. “He loves us truly, and he loves us so much! This is the
simplest expression that summarises the whole of the Gospel, all
faith, all theology: God loves, us, with freely given and boundless
love”.
“At the origin of the world there is
only the Father's free and gratuitous love”, affirmed Pope Francis,
cited the words of St. Irenaeus who, in his work “Adversus
haereses”, wrote: “In the beginning God formed Adam, not because
He was in need of humans, but so He might have someone to receive His
benefits”. And after the fall, He did not abandon man to the power
of death, but instead rescued him with His mercy. “As in creation”,
explained Francis, “also the subsequent stages in the history of
salvation emphasise the gratuity of God's love: the Lord chooses His
people not because they were deserving, but because it was the
smallest among all the peoples. And, in the fullness of time,
although men have broken the covenant many times, instead of
abandoning them God makes a new bond with them, in the blood of Jesus
– the bond of the new and everlasting covenant – a bond that
nothing can ever break”.
The Cross of Christ is “the supreme
proof of God's love for us: Jesus has loved us 'unto the end',
meaning not up to the final moment of his earthly life, but until the
extreme limit of love. If in creation the Father has given us the
proof of his great love by giving us life, in the passion of His Son
He has given us the proof of all proofs: He has come to suffer and
die for us. And this love that is so great is God's mercy, because He
loves us, He forgives us. With his mercy, God forgives all and God
always forgives”.
“May Mary, Mother of Mercy, place in
our hearts the certainty that we are loved by God. May She be close
to us in the moments of difficulty and give us the sentiments of Her
Son, so that our Lenten itinerary may be an experience of
forgiveness, of welcome and of charity”.
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