Pope Francis has urged confessors that they must show the heart of the Father to those who enter their confessional.
During today’s General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father departed from his prepared text on mercy and justice, to call on them to reflect God’s heart, the heart of a Father «who loves and wants His children to live in goodness and in justice, live in fullness and be happy» and Who «goes beyond our little concept of justice to open us to the limitless horizons of His mercy.»
The heart of a Father, he reminded confessors, «does not treat us according to our sins and does not repay us according to our faults.»
When we faithful go to the confessional, the Holy Father underscored, we go to meet the heart of the Father.
«Perhaps, he will say something to make us understand evil better,» Francis acknowledged, «but in the confessional we all go to find a Father that helps us change our life, a Father that gives us the strength to go forward; a Father that forgives us in the name of God.»
«And you, priest, who are there in the confessional, you are there in the place of the Father who does justice with His mercy,» he said.
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On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full Text: http://zenit.org/articles/general-audience-on-complementarity-of-justice-mercy/
