The Holy Father invites us to pass “from misery to mercy.”The Pope Video illustrating Pope Francis’ prayer intention for March has been released: The pope is praying that we might “experience the sacrament of reconciliation with renewed depth, to taste the forgiveness and infinite mercy of God.”
The pope’s monthly prayer intentions are entrusted to the entire Catholic Church through the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.
This month’s video opens with shots of the Pope himself going to confession, “in order to be healed, to heal my soul. To leave with greater spiritual health. To pass from misery to mercy.”
“Jesus waits for us, listens to us and forgives us”
“In the heart of God, we come before our mistakes,” says the Holy Father.
Receiving this sacrament isn’t a matter of standing before a judge, but of going to a loving encounter with a Father who receives us and always forgives us. “The center of confession is not the sins we declare, but the divine love we receive, of which we are always in need,” Francis adds. And this love comes before all else, before our mistakes, the rules, judgments and failings.
Merciful priests
Fr. Fréderic Fornos, S.J., International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, pointed to Francis’ final words in the video: “Let us pray that God may give his Church merciful priests and not torturers.” And he added: “It’s not the first time that the Pope prays for this grace. As a good shepherd, he knows the people’s suffering, their sins, and their need to encounter ‘ministers of mercy.’ This is the time of mercy. In his apostolic letter Misericordia et misera, at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, he invited priests to be like Jesus, full of compassion and patient. It’s a path of conversion for each priest, to be ‘witnesses of fatherly tenderness,’ ‘far-sighted in discerning,’ and ‘generous in dispensing God’s forgiveness.’ He asks that their heart be close to the heart of Jesus, and it’s a grace.”
In the Angelus on this past February 14, the Holy Father asked that we thank and applaud merciful confessors. God never tires of forgiving. Let us pray, then, “that we may experience the sacrament of reconciliation with renewed depth, to taste the forgiveness and infinite mercy of God.”
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Read more:
Why Do Catholics Confess Their Sins to a Priest instead of Directly to God?
