A series of short quotes from Pope Francis with a focus on mercy and reconciliation.
A recurrent theme in Pope Francis’ homilies and addresses is God’s mercy. Here you’ll find a selection of quotes offered for prayer and reflection.
“Today I would also like to suggest a medicine to you. But someone might think: ‘The Pope is a pharmacist now?’ It is a special medicine that will make the fruits of the Year of Faith concrete. This year is drawing to its close. It is a medicine of 59 pills for the heart. It is a ‘spiritual medicine’ called ‘Misericordina.’ A little box with 59 pills for the heart. The medicine is in this little box and some volunteers will hand it out to you as you are leaving the piazza. Take it! It is a rosary with which you can also pray the ‘Mercy chaplet,’ a spiritual help for our soul and to spread love, forgiveness and fraternity everywhere. Do not forget to take it because it is good for you, okay? It is good for your heart, you soul and your whole life!”
Rome, November 18, 2013
zenit.org/en
“The joy of God is the joy of forgiveness. It is the joy of the shepherd who finds his lost sheep; the joy of the woman who finds her lost coin; the joy of the father who welcomes home his lost son.”
“This is all the Gospel, here; this is Christianity! But this is not sentimentalism or bland ‘do-goodism’; on the contrary, mercy is the true force that can save man and the world from the ‘cancer’ of sin, from moral and spiritual malaise. Only love can fill the gaps, the negative abysses that evil opens up in our hearts and in history. Only love can do this, and this is the joy of God.”
September 16, 2013
zenit.org/en
“Maybe some of us don’t like to say this, but those who are closest to the heart of Jesus, are the biggest sinners, because He looks for them, he calls to all: ‘Come, come!’ And when they ask for an explanation, he says: ‘But, those who have good health do not need a doctor; I have come to heal, to save.’”
October 22, 2013
zenit.org/en
“I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do our best. A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties. Everyone needs to be touched by the comfort and attraction of God’s saving love, which is mysteriously at work in each person, above and beyond their faults and failings.”
Evangelii Gaudium 44
“In his mercy, he never tires of stretching out his hand to lift us up, to encourage us to continue our journey, to come back and tell him of our weakness, so that he can grant us his strength.”
“The last thing: God is our strength. I think of the ten lepers in the Gospel who were healed by Jesus. They approach him, and keeping their distance, they call out: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! (Lk 17:13). They are sick, they need love and strength, and they are looking for someone to heal them. Jesus responds by freeing them from their disease.”
October 13, 2013
zenit.org/en
In the Sacrament of Penance, “Jesus receives us with all of our limitations, He bring us the mercy of the Father who forgives us, and transforms our heart, rendering it a new heart, capable of loving Him, who loved His own to the end (cf. John 13:1). And this love is manifested in his mercy. Jesus always forgives us.”
July 01, 2013
zenit.org/en
“The Church is not the master of the power of the keys, it is not the master, but rather a servant of the ministry of mercy and rejoices every time that it can offer this divine gift.”
November 20, 2013
zenit.org/en
“God has willed to share our human condition to the point of making himself one of us in the Person of Jesus, who is true man and true God,” the Pope continued. But he added that even more surprising is that Jesus becomes man not in ‘an ideal world, an idyllic [world], but in this real world, marked by so many things, good and bad, marked by divisions, wickedness, poverty, arrogance and wars.’”
“In this way God shows that He is merciful towards humanity, and filled with love for us. ‘He is God-with-us: do you believe this?’”
December 18, 2013
zenit.org/en
“The service that the priest assumes a ministry, on behalf of God, to forgive sins is very delicate and requires that his heart be at peace, that the priest have peace in his heart; that he not mistreat the faithful, but that he be gentle, benevolent and merciful; that he know how to plant hope in hearts and, above all, that he be aware that the brother or sister who approaches the Sacrament of Reconciliation seeking forgiveness does so just as many people approached Jesus to be healed. The priest who is not of this disposition of mind had better not administer this sacrament until he has addressed it. The penitent faithful have the right, all faithful have the right, to find in priests servants of the forgiveness of God.”
20 November 2013
vatican.va
The Jubilee of Mercy, given to us by Pope Francis, invites us to contemplate the mercy of God revealed to us in the face of Jesus, his Son. The Year runs from 8 December 2015 to 20 November 2016 and offers us the opportunity to reflect on how we might better radiate and reflect the tender love of God in our world and to seek to draw others into experiencing that love and mercy. Full Section
Pope Francis about God’s Mercy: thedivinemercy.org
Quotations collated by the Home Mission Desk, Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis, CBCEW
