My heart is overwhelmed. 

Tradition has it that as St. John neared the end of his life, people flocked to the Island of Patmos to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist with him.   John was old and frail, and he had to be carried out to the people each Sunday, but it never stopped him from giving them the same message week after week:  “Little children, God loves you. Love him and love one another.”   That’s all John ever said, but the people still came.   When asked why he kept repeating the same words, he answered, “Because that’s what the Master kept saying.”

In Scripture we are shown how the prophet Hosea might well have said the same thing!   Speaking in the name of the Lord, the prophet recounts Israel’s infidelity and sins—and yet he insists that God has never stopped loving them.   In a moving poem, he shows that God’s love is eternal, intimate, unconditional, and immutable.   And when this love is poured out on his people, it’s called mercy.

Just like St. John, Hosea wanted his people to experience this mercy, not just hear about it.   It sounds so attractive, doesn’t it? But to quote Pope Francis, “It is not easy to entrust oneself to God’s mercy, because it is an abyss beyond comprehension.   But we must!   ‘Oh, Father, if you knew my life, you would not say that to me!’   Why, what have you done?  ‘Oh, I am a great sinner!’   All the better!   Go to Jesus: he likes you to tell him these things. . . . He forgets, he kisses you, he embraces you, and he simply says to you, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’   That is the only advice he gives you.”

Or consider God’s revelation to St. Faustina, a Polish sister who lived just prior to World War II:  “I am love itself.   My heart overflows with great mercy for souls, especially poor sinners.   Let no one fear to draw near to me, even though their sins be as scarlet.   My mercy is greater than all your sins.”

God loves you.   Believe it!   No matter what you have done, no matter what anyone has done to you, he hasn’t rejected you.   Let him show you his love and his mercy.   Let him tell you over and over again, “I love you. Love me and love one another. I love you!”

word among us