Here and Now with Francis 1/14/16 (mercy, God, love,)

By Anonymous

From the general audience
The Lord is “merciful”: this word evokes an attitude of tenderness as that of a mother in dealing with her child. In fact, the Hebrew term used by the Bible makes one think of the insides or even the maternal womb. Therefore, the image it suggests it that of a God that is moved and becomes tender for us as a mother when she takes her child in her arms, desirous only of loving, protecting, and helping, ready to give everything, even herself. This is the image that this term suggests. A love, therefore, that can be described as “visceral” in the good sense. [...]
Mercy is a celebration!
Said also of this merciful God is that He is “slow to anger,” literally, “in the long term,” that is wide-ranging in long suffering and the capacity to endure.  God is able to wait, and His times are not the impatient ones of men. He is like the wise farmer that is able to wait, gives time to the good seed to grow, despite the darnel (cf. Matthew 13:24-30). [...] The word “love” used here indicates affection, grace and goodness. It is not the love of soap operas ... It is love that takes the first step, which does not depend on human merits but is of immense gratuitousness. It is the divine solicitude that nothing can stop, not even sin, because it is able to go beyond sin, to overcome evil and forgive it. [...] And this merciful God is faithful in His mercy and Saint Paul says a lovely thing: if you are not faithful to Him, He will remain faithful because he cannot deny Himself. Faithfulness in mercy is proper to God’s being. [full text]

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