In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis reiterated that God doesn't want to punish anyone, because He's a father and knows his children have a long way to go.<\/p>\n
POPE FRANCIS<\/strong> Thus, the pope asked priests not to make a scene about the serious sins they hear during confession and to know how to receive people who seek their help. <\/p>\n EXCERPTS FROM THE POPE'S HOMILY \u201cThe Lord says, \u2018Come now, let us reason together,\u2019 Let\u2019s talk for a while. He doesn\u2019t frighten us. He is like a father of a small child who has pulled a prank, and he has to correct him. And he knows that if he approaches him with a stick in hand, things will not go well. He has to approach him with trust and confidence. In this passage, this is how the Lord calls us: \u2018Come on, let\u2019s have a coffee together. Let\u2019s talk this over, let\u2019s discuss it. Don\u2019t be afraid, I\u2019m not going to beat you.\u2019 And since he knows his child is thinking \u2018But I did something wrong\u2026\u2019, he immediately [adds], \u2018Even if your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow. If they be crimson red, they may become like wool.'\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLet us thank the Lord for His goodness. He does not want to beat us and condemn us. He gave His life for us and this is His goodness. And He is always looking for a way to get to the heart. And when we priests, in the place of the Lord, have to hear confessions, we too should have this attitude of goodness. As the Lord says: \u2018Come on, let\u2019s discuss this. It\u2019s no problem, there is forgiveness.\u2019 And from the beginning, there is no threat.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt is helpful to me to see this attitude of the Lord: the [attitude of a] father with the child who thinks he is big, that he is all grown up, and yet is only halfway there. And the Lord knows that all of us are halfway there, and often we need this, we need to hear these words: \u2018Come on, don\u2019t be afraid, come. There is forgiveness.\u2019 And this encourages us. Go to the Lord with an open heart: He is the Father who is waiting for you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 27, 2018. The pope said God is like \u201cthe father with a son who believes he is big, but who is only halfway there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":23819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/3pzrQV-NdIg","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta2702eng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta2702int.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cIt is helpful to me to see this attitude of the Lord: the [attitude of a] father with the child who thinks he is big, that he is all grown up, and yet is only halfway there. And the Lord knows that all of us are halfway there, and often we need this, we need to hear these words: \u2018Come on, don\u2019t be afraid, come. There is forgiveness.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n(Source: Vatican News)<\/strong>
\n\u201cHe does not threaten,\u201d the Pope said, but instead, calls us \u201cwith kindness, gentleness, giving us confidence.\u201d In the reading, after having pointed out to them the evil they should avoid and the good they should do, the Lord says to the rulers of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah: \u201cCome, let us reason together.\u201d And, the Pope said, He does the same with us:<\/em><\/p>\n