POPE FRANCIS

MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THE
DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE

Experiencing God’s love for us

Tuesday, 4 February 2020

[Multimedia]

During his homily for Mass at Santa Marta on Tuesday, 4 February, Pope Francis drew a parallel between David’s sorrow at the death of his son Absalom and God’s love for us. The Reading from the Second Book of Samuel narrates the account of Absalom who had waged war against David in order to replace him and of David’s anguish at his son’s death: “My son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you!”. Those who were with him were amazed at his reaction. “But why are you weeping? This person was against you, he had denied you”, they said. David’s weeping is a historic fact, but it is also a prophecy,” the Holy Father explained. “It makes us see God’s heart, what God does when we turn away from him”. And he continued, “The Lord is a Father, and he never denies this paternity”.

Pope Francis pointed out that it is during confession that we encounter God’s weeping. Indeed, Confession is like “going to the Father who weeps for me, precisely because he is a Father”. Through David’s sorrow which made him wish he had died instead of his son Absalom, we can gain insight into what God did for us. “In Jesus, God dies in our place”.

“It would be good in the difficult moments in our lives ... in moments of sin, in moments when we feel far away from God, to hear his voice in our hearts”, reminding us that Jesus died for us. Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he continues to weep for us when “we do not let him love us”, the Pope said. The Holy Father concluded his homily by inviting the faithful to listen to God’s voice in times of temptation and sin.

*L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly edition in English, n.12, 20 March 2020