Pope Francis: We Are Showered with Christ's Mercy During Mass

On April 11, Pope Francis offered mass at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, where he reminded faithfuls that Christ’s scarred and risen body is a pathway of his mercy.

He said that during Mass, we adore and kiss the scarred and risen body of Christ and are showered with his mercy.

Reflecting on the appearance of Christ to his disciples after resurrection, the pope explained that it’s through the gifts of peace and forgiveness that the disciples   received the mercy of Jesus.

 “In adoring and kissing his wounds, we come to realize that in his tender love all our weaknesses are accepted,” the pope continued. “This happens at every Mass, where Jesus offers us his wounded and risen Body. We touch him and he touches our lives. He makes heaven come down to us. His radiant wounds dispel the darkness we carry within.”

The mass on Divine Mercy Sunday was attended by about 80 people including three prisoners, nurses from a nearby medical facility, a migrant family and a number of refugees. Also in attendance were Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy, and Civil Protection volunteers.

“You represent some of the situations in which mercy is made tangible; it becomes closeness, service, care for those in difficulty,” he said. “I hope you will always feel you have been granted mercy, so as to be merciful to others in turn,” the pope said.

The pope greeted each of faithfuls before heading back to the Vatican.

In his Sunday sermon, Pope Francis urged Christians to show mercy towards others. He said that it’s through God’s abundant mercy that our sins have been forgiven.

“Do you want proof that God has touched your life? See if you can stoop to bind the wounds of others,” the pope said.

“Having received mercy, let us now become merciful,” he said, “let us be renewed by the peace, forgiveness and wounds of the merciful Jesus. Let us ask for the grace to become witnesses of mercy. Only in this way will our faith be alive and our lives unified. Only in this way will we proclaim the Gospel of God, which is the Gospel of mercy.”

On the Sacrament of Reconciliation, otherwise referred to as Confession, the pope said that we need to understand that confession is more about God’s mercy and not about our sins.

“Like little children who, whenever they fall, need to be picked up by their fathers, we need this,” he said.

“We too fall frequently. And the hand of our Father is ready to set us on our feet again and to make us keep walking. That sure and trustworthy hand is confession.”

He reminded Christians that in the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples became merciful after the mercy of Christ came upon them. They shared all their possessions.

“How did they change like that? They now saw in others the same mercy that had changed their own lives,” he said. “They discovered that they shared the mission, the forgiveness and the Body of Jesus, and so it seemed natural to share their earthly possessions.”