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Pope Francis: God weeps when we go astray


God loves us and waits for us like a father, Pope Francis said, during Mass at Casa Santa Marta this morning. Commenting on the First Letter from the Book of Exodus, the Holy Father focused on God's love for His people, despite their infidelity. Even today, he said, it is good for us to ask whether we distance ourselves from the Lord to follow after idols and worldliness.

Reflecting on the Book of Exodus, the Pope said the people are God's dream. "He dreamed of them because he loved them," he said. But the people betrayed the Father's dreams and so God "began to be disappointed," asking Moses to come down from the mountain where he had gone to receive the Law. The people "did not have the patience to wait for God" for even 40 days. They had made themselves a golden calf and "they forgot God who had saved them."

The Pope said: The prophet Baruc "had a good expression for this people: 'You have forgotten the One who reared you'". "To forget God who made us, who raised us, and who accompanies us in our lives: this is the disappointment of God. And many times in the Gospel Jesus speaks in parables about that man who builds a vineyard, which then fails, because the workers want to take it for themselves. In the human heart there is always this restlessness! It is not satisfied with God, with faithful love. The human heart always tends towards infidelity. This is a temptation."

God rebukes this people through the prophet. "The disappointment of God is the infidelity of the people... And we are God's people. We know well the dispositions of our heart, and every day we must take up again the path so as not to slide slowly towards idols, fantasies, worldliness, and infidelity. I think it would do us good today to reflect on the disappointed Lord: 'Tell me, Lord, are you disappointed in me?' In something, yes, surely. But reflect, and ask yourself this question."

Pope Francis affirmed: " God has a tender heart, the heart of a father." He recalled that Jesus wept "over Jerusalem". Let us ask ourselves, he said, if "God weeps for me", if "He is disappointed in me", and if "I have distanced myself from the Lord". He asked aloud: "How many idols do I have, which I am unable to remove, which make me a slave? The idolatry that we have within us... And God weeps for me."

"Let us reflect today on this disappointment of God, who created us for love, whilst we go in search of love, of wellbeing elsewhere and not in His love. We distance ourselves from this God who raised us. This is a thought for Lent. It will do us good. Do this small examination of conscience daily: 'Lord, you who have so many dreams for me, I know that I have gone away from you, but tell me where and how to return...' The surprise will be that He ever awaits us, like the father of the prodigal son who saw him from afar, because he was waiting for him."

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Tags: Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis

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