IMAGE: CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Mercy is a true form of knowledge that
allows men and women to understand the mystery of God’s love for humanity, Pope
Francis said.
Having
experienced forgiveness, Christians have a duty to forgive others, giving a “visible
sign” of God’s mercy,
which “carries within it the peace of heart and the joy of a renewed encounter with the Lord,” the
pope said April 23 before praying the “Regina Coeli” with visitors
gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
“Mercy helps us understand that violence, resentment
and revenge do not have any meaning and that
the first victim is the
one who lives with these feelings, because he is deprived of his own
dignity,” he said.
Commemorating Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis said St. John
Paul II’s establishment of the feast in 2000 was a “beautiful
intuition” inspired by the Holy Spirit.
God’s mercy, he said, not only “opens the door of the
mind,” it also opens the door of the heart and paves the way for compassion toward those who are
“alone or marginalized because it makes them feel they are brothers and
sisters and children of one father.”
“Mercy, in short, commits us all to being instruments
of justice, of reconciliation and peace. Let us never forget that mercy is the
keystone in the life of faith, and the concrete form by which we give visibility
to Jesus’ resurrection,” Pope Francis said.
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