Vatican City (AsiaNews) - With his love, God "has been preparing" us for many generations. "When things are not going well, He gets Himself involved in history, he sorts the situation," corrects our mistakes and never leaves us even if we do not understand.
At this morning's Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, love, "God's tenderness", was again at the centre of Pope Francis' reflection. The Pope took his cue from today's Gospel, when Jesus calls on Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow him. They are fishing, but they drop their nets and do as asked. As Francis noted, the Lord wants to prepare his disciples for their new mission.
"It is typical of God, of God's love, to prepare [our] paths . . . prepare our lives for each one of us," Vatican Radio reported, citing the pope. "He does not make us Christians by spontaneous generation: He prepares" He has prepared our path, our lives, and has done so for some time."
At this point in time, "It seems that Simon, Andrew, James and John were chosen once-and-for-all." Indeed, "they were chosen! However, at this moment [in the story], they were not yet completely faithful. After being chosen, they went on to make mistakes. They proposed un-Christian things to the Lord. They denied the Lord - Peter most glaringly; the others out of fear. They were afraid and ran away. They abandoned the Lord. The Lord prepares - and then, after the Resurrection - the Lord had to continue this journey of preparation until the day of Pentecost. Even beyond Pentecost, some of [the disciples] - Peter, for example - made mistakes, and Paul had to correct him. But the Lord prepares."
And he has been preparing us for many generations. "When things are not going well, He gets Himself involved in history, he sorts the situation, and goes forward with us. Think of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, of that list: this one begets that one, and that one begets this one, and so on . . . . In that story, there are men and women who are sinners. How did the Lord [work it all out]? He stepped in, He straightened the path, He put things right. Think of the great David, a great sinner, and then a great saint. The Lord knows. When the Lord tells us, 'With eternal love, I have loved you,' He is referring to this. The Lord has been thinking about us for many generations - about each and every one of us."
"I like to think that the Lord feels like an expectant couple, waiting for their child. He is always waiting for us in this story and then takes us through history. Such is the Lord's eternal love, eternal and yet concrete! But also lovingly crafted, for he makes history, paving the way for each of us. This is God's love;" he "loves us forever and never forsakes us! Let us pray to the Lord so that we may know the tenderness of his heart."
For the pope, this is "an act of faith," something that not easy to believe "Because our rationalism says, 'How is it that the Lord, who has so many people to think about, should think about me?' However, he has really prepared the way for me. With our mothers, our grandmothers, our fathers, our grandparents and great-grandparents . . . . That's what the Lord does. This is His love: real, eternal, and also [individually] 'crafted. We pray, asking for the grace to understand God's love, which cannot however ever be fully grasped! We can feel it, we [can even] weep for it, but [in this life] it cannot be understood. This also tells us how great this love is. The Lord has been preparing us for some time, He walks with us, preparing others. He is always with us! Let us heartily ask for the grace to understand this great love."