Here and Now with Francis 3/8/16 (confession, sacrament, forgiveness, mercy, salvation, penance, Church)

By Anonymous

[B]efore being an attitude or a human virtue, mercy is God’s definitive choice in favor of every human being for his eternal salvation — a choice sealed with the blood of the Son of God.

From an address
There is, however, the “sure way” of mercy, which goes from the possibility to the reality, from hope to certainty. Jesus is this way, who has “the power on earth to forgive sins” (Luke 5:24) and has transmitted this mission to the Church (Cf. John 20:21-23). Therefore, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the privileged place to experience God’s mercy and to celebrate the feast of the encounter with the Father. We forget this last aspect with such ease: I go, I ask for forgiveness, I feel the embrace of forgiveness and I forget to celebrate. This is not theological doctrine but I would say, forcing somewhat, that the celebration is part of the Sacrament: it is as if penance is also part of the celebration I must have with the Father who has forgiven me.
Let us put back at the center – and not only in this Jubilee Year! — the Sacrament of Reconciliation, true space of the Spirit in which all, confessors and penitents, can experience the only definitive and faithful love, that of God for each of His children, a love that never disappoints. [full text]

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