Below is the Vatican’s English-speaking summary of today’s General Audience:
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Dear Brothers and Sisters: In this Jubilee Year, our weekly catechesis will explore the mystery of divine mercy. In the Book of Exodus, God defines himself as the God of mercy. In words which echo throughout the Old Testament, he tells Moses that he is “the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6). The Hebrew word for mercy evokes the tender and visceral love of a mother for her child. The God of mercy is also gracious, ever ready to understand and forgive. He is slow to anger, prepared to wait patiently, like a wise farmer, for the seeds of repentance to grow in our hearts. Likewise, he abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness. God’s love, freely given, precedes any merit on our part; his faithfulness, like that of the father in the parable of the prodigal son, has no limits. He waits for us, ever ready to forgive our sins and to welcome us back to a right relationship with him. In this Year of Mercy, may we turn to God with all our heart, trusting in his mercy and grace, his infinite faithfulness and love.
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including the pilgrimage groups from Ireland, Finland and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that the the Church’s celebration of the Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for all, I invoke upon you and your families an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord. God bless you all!
