Ps. 116:5, NIRV
When Pope Francis was still a cardinal in Buenos Aires he was known for taking the baby Jesus from the
crèche at Christmastime, showing the
babe to the gathered congregation and
saying: “This is God. God is
tenderness.”[1]
How often
Pope Francis speaks of God’s great tenderness, which he
sees as the "music of
the language of the Lord."[2]
Today we look at some
of Pope Francis’s most compelling thoughts in this regard. (Also see
an update to this topic added at the time of Pope Francis’s death--
scroll to the very end of this post for that.)
The above concern is of special interest to us: when we
began this blog more than a year ago our underlying concern was stated in our
title: “Missing Sacred Tenderness in
Christian Tradition (missing because neglected).” For some time we were not fully aware that
another voice—far greater than our own—was calling attention to the same concern
and the same neglect.[3]
Indeed, it was not until Pope Francis was in route to the USA for his
much anticipated visit in September of 2015 that we first heard headlines about
his Revolution of Tenderness.[4] We then searched further and began to see more
clearly the thought processes behind Pope Francis’s already obvious
actions. We saw that a consistent part
of Pope Francis’s mission seems to be to stress these two points:
1) We are called to love one
another with great tenderness and mercy: we are summoned to a “revolution of tenderness”
by Jesus’ example of humbly, tenderly taking our flesh in order to bring God’s
intimacy, closeness, love, mercy, and ways
to us.[5]
2) This “revolution of tenderness” begins, of necessity, with our own deepening experience of just how
tenderly God loves each one of us. We love because he first loved us:
“[T]he Lord has taken the initiative,” Pope Francis says, “he has loved us
first (cf. 1 Jn. 4:19).”[6]
As we ourselves come to a deeper experience of the mercy and tenderness of God’s
love, that love fills us, upholds us, empowers us, and helps us to pass tender
love on. This process is the science of tenderness (in one
commentator’s summary of Pope Francis’s ideas).[7] And every day Pope Francis demonstrates the science of tenderness in his actions.
From the beginning Pope Francis launched
his papacy with a call to his priests and leaders to be more tenderly pastoral
in their approach to their flocks—to see the church as a “tender mother” and
“shepherdess”--or even as a "field hospital" to gently treat the wounded.[8] Leaders first
concern should be to love and care for those entrusted to them. “I ask you to be shepherds with God’s
tenderness, to leave the ‘whip’ hanging in the sacristy and be shepherds with
tenderness, even with those who create more trouble for you,” Pope Francis
says.[9]
The implication is that the metaphoric
“whip” (a “Law first” approach[10]) had too often been used in the past. One commentator speaks of the “theological
police work” that had sometimes been a focus previously.[11] In contrast, in his inaugural homily Pope
Francis spoke of the need “for a certain tenderness. . . . [G]reat tenderness . . . is not
the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit. . . . We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!”
[12]
Pope Francis’s thought in this regard
continues (as reported by C. Glatz):
When
the Good Shepherd finds his lost sheep, “he doesn’t hit it, he doesn’t scold,
he takes it in his arms and embraces it and takes care of it because it was
wounded. Do you do the same with your
faithful?”
Remember God’s tenderness, he [Pope
Francis] said, be moved by it and imitate Jesus, who says, “When you are alone,
confused, lost, come to me, and I will save you, I will console you[13] [e.g., see Mt. 28:30].
Pope Francis has reminded us of how “the
father welcomes his son” (in the story of the wayward, returning prodigal; Lk. 15:11-22): “He will hug you with great love.”[14]
And who is God the Father—especially as
taught by Jesus and demonstrated in Jesus’ own intimate relationship with the
Father? Pope Francis commented:
It
is the Spirit . . . who spurs us to say to God: “Father” or, rather,
“Abba!”, which means “papa” . . . [“dad”]. Our God is like
this: he
is a dad to us. . . . And this is
the greatest gift. . . . God treats us as
children, he understands us, he forgives us, he embraces us, he
loves us even
when we err. In the Old Testament, the
Prophet Isaiah
was already affirming that even if a mother could forget her
child,
God never forgets us at any moment (cf. 49:15). And this is
beautiful![15]
Our attitude toward others is meant to be
based upon the “beautiful”
way God treats us: “Every human being is the object
of God’s infinite
tenderness, and he himself is present in their lives,” Pope
Francis
affirms.[16] And, “To
believe in a Father who loves all men and women
with an infinite love means
realizing that ‘he thereby confers upon them
an infinite dignity.’”[17]
But how do we learn the true depths of
this lesson? It is so easy to talk about
love, but how can we truly know
it? Pope Francis suggests: Be silent, so
we can hear the tenderness of God. Take
time to listen to “God who speaks to us with the tenderness of a father and of
a mother.”[18] Pope Francis
offered an example:
When
the child has a bad dream, he wakes up, cries … the father goes and says,
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’m here.”
That’s how the Lord speaks to us.
“Do not fear …” (Isaiah 41, 13).
The Lord has this way of speaking to us: He is near. … When we look at a father or a mother who
speaks to their little child, we see that they become little and speak with a
voice of a child and with the manners of children. Someone looking in from the outside [would]
think, “this is ridiculous!” They become
smaller, right there, no? Because the
love of a father and a mother needs to be close. … [T]hey want to take up the manner of speaking
of the child. They come close. … And so it is with the Lord. … This is the language of the Lord, the
language of the love of a father, of a mother. … And we [too] must do what the Lord does, do what He says and do it as He
says it: with love, with tenderness,
with that condescension [bending] toward the brethren. … This is the music of the language of the Lord, and we … ought to hear it: it
would do us so much good. … [T]o have a little silence and to hear these words of love, these words of such nearness,
these words of tenderness …” (emphasis added).[19]
Similarly, taking a cue from the prophet Isaiah[20], in another of Pope
Francis’s homilies, God’s tenderness is represented in the imagery of a mother:
“God’s closeness . . . is presented like a mother, a mother who talks to her baby,
and sings lullabies to her baby.” In
Isaiah God expresses “closeness with tenderness: the tenderness of a
mother.” In this we see the “beautiful
truth of God’s closeness.”[21]
(Note Isaiah 66, for example: “As a mother comforts her child, so I [the
Lord] shall comfort you”; v. 13, NJB.)
For Pope Francis, God’s desire for
closeness to us is especially found in
God’s “condescension” (stooping, bending to meet us), and this is most clearly
seen in the story of the Nativity and Incarnation:
The “sign”
[in Lk. 2:12] is the humility of God taken to the
extreme; it is the love with which, that night, He assumed our frailty,
our suffering, our anxieties, our desires and our limitations.
The
message . . . was none other than the tenderness of God: God who
looks upon us with eyes full of love, who accepts our poverty. . . .
How much the
world needs tenderness today! . . . The
Christian
response cannot be different from God’s response to our
smallness. Life must be met with goodness, with meekness.
When we realize
that God is in love with our smallness, that
he made himself small in order to better encounter us, we
cannot help but open our hearts . . . [22]
What a lovely theme: “God is in love with our smallness . . . [so] he made himself small . . .” Pope
Francis also refers to the special combination of “tenderness and hope” in the
Nativity story, in this supreme example of God’s “condescension”:
When God meets us [in the Nativity story] he tells us two
things. The first thing he says is: have hope. God always
opens doors, he never closes them. He is the father who
opens doors for us. The second thing he says is: don’t be
afraid of tenderness. When Christians forget about hope
and tenderness they become a cold Church, that loses its
sense of direction and is held back by ideologies and
worldly attitudes, whereas God’s simplicity tells
you: go forward, I am a Father who caresses you. I
become fearful when Christians lose hope and the ability
to embrace and extend a loving caress to others. . . .
Throughout my life as a priest, going to the parish, I
have always sought to transmit this tenderness,
particularly to children and the elderly. It does me
good and it makes me think of the tenderness God has
towards us.[23]
Similarly, Pope Francis comments: “Every
Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she bears witness to God’s
love. Be missionaries of God’s
tenderness!”[24] He offers an example of someone who knew how to reach out with
such love:
In the
Gospels, Saint Joseph [Jesus’ earthly father] appears as a strong and courageous
man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the
virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for
concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness . . . tenderness. [25]
There is a catch
to all of this, however: It is us! Blocks
within us! In this regard, Pope Francis advises:
This may
sound like heresy, but it is the greatest truth! It is
more difficult to let God love us, than
to love Him! The best
way to love Him in
return is to open our hearts and let Him
love us [see 1 Jn. 4:19]. Let Him draw
close to us and feel
Him close to us.
This is really very difficult [surprisingly]:
letting ourselves be loved by Him. And that is perhaps what
we need to ask
today . . . : “Lord, I want to love you, but
teach me the difficult science, the difficult habit of letting
myself be loved by You, to feel You close and feel Your
tenderness! May the Lord give us this grace.”[26]
And,
furthermore, Pope Francis boldly wrote, “Only he [she] who
has been touched
and caressed by the tenderness of his mercy really
knows the Lord.”[27]
Pope Francis offered a vivid suggestion if we lack
understanding in this regard. He presents Jesus as an
example of One who draws close to us to teach us today,
just as Jesus did during his earthly ministry: “How good
it is for us to contemplate [meditate upon] the closeness
which he shows to everyone! If he speaks to someone, he
looks into their eyes with deep love and concern ...”[28] For
example:
“Jesus,
looking upon him, loved him” (Mk 10:21). We see how
accessible he is, as he draws near the blind man (cf. Mk 10:46-52) and eats and drinks with sinners (cf. Mk 2:16) without
worrying about being thought a glutton and a drunkard himself (cf. Mt 11:19). We see his sensitivity in allowing a sinful
woman to anoint his feet (cf. Lk 7:36-50) and in receiving Nicodemus by night (cf. Jn 3:1-15). Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is nothing else
than the culmination of the way he lived his entire life.[29]
One of Pope
Francis’s most beautiful passages about God’s tenderness is based on Hosea 11:
In [Hosea] . . . we enter into the tenderness of God: God tells his people how much he loves
them, how much he cares for them. What
God says to his people, in this . . . he says to each one of us. And it would
be good to take this text, in a moment of solitude, and set ourselves in the
presence of God and listen: “When you were a child, I loved you; I loved you as
a child; I saved you; I led you out of [captivity in] Egypt, I saved you from
slavery”, from the slavery of sin, from the slavery of self-destruction and
from every kind of slavery that each of us knows, has had and has within. “I saved you.
I taught you how to walk”. How
beautiful to hear that God teaches me to walk!
The Almighty abases himself and teaches me how to walk. I recall this phrase from Deuteronomy, when
Moses says to his people: “Listen you”—they were so hard-headed—“when have you
ever seen a god so close to his people as God is close to us?”. And the closeness
of God is tenderness like this: he has taught me how to walk. Without Him I wouldn’t know how to walk in
the Spirit. “And I held you by the
hand. But you did not understand that I
was leading you, you believed that I would leave you alone”.[30]
Pope Francis
wishes each of us to enter personally,
deeply into this story:
This
is the story of each one of us. “I
held you with human bonds, not punitive laws”.
With bonds of love, ties of love.
Love binds, but binds in freedom; it binds while leaving you the space
to respond with love. “I was for you as
one who raises a child up to his cheek and kisses her. And I bent down and fed her”. This is our history, at least it is my
history. Each of us can read her own
history here. “Tell me, how can I
abandon you now?” . . . In the moments when
we are afraid, at the times that we are uncertain, He says to us: “If I did
this for you, how can you think I would leave you alone, that I could abandon
you? . . . My heart recoils within me and my
compassion grows warm and tender” [God says; Hos. 11:4, 8]. God’s compassion is kindled, this warm compassion. . . . It is the declaration of a father’s love to
his child. And to each one of us.[31]
However, once
again our own blocks may enter in; then we neglect God’s offer of tender concern. Pope Francis continues:
How often do
I think that we are afraid of the tenderness
of God and because we are afraid of God’s tenderness,
we do not allow it to be felt within us.
Because of this we are so often hard, serious, punishing. . . . What does Jesus say to us in Luke at Chapter
15? About that shepherd who noticed that
he had 99 sheep for one was missing. He
left them well safeguarded . . . and went to search for the other, who was ensnared
in thorns…. And he didn’t beat it,
didn’t scold it: he took it tightly in his arms and cared for it. . . . [H]ave [you] forgotten about the tenderness your Father gave you, and it
is recounted to you here, in chapter 11 of Hosea. And you have forgotten how to give that
compassion [to others]. The Heart of Christ is the tenderness of God. “How could I fail you? How could I abandon you? When you are alone, disoriented, lost, come
to me, and I will save you, I will
comfort you”.[32]
Pope Francis is convinced that we have a God who is
“rich in mercy”; we can be “touched with tenderness from
His hand [we can meditate intently upon it!]”[33] We are
meant increasingly to know such tenderness, to dwell
deeply in it, to let it empower, comfort, and enlighten us
and then to share it--passing God’s great generosity on
in a “revolution of tenderness.” Or even, as Pope Francis
has said more recently, with a "theology of tenderness,"[34] where the church is seen as a field hospital,
tenderly caring for all who are in need.
We have a Catholic friend who expresses doubts
about some of Pope Francis's ways. She wonders if his
generous mercy and tender love might be too soft. She
grew up with a heavy dose of the "Law First" approach
that we discussed previously.[35] A "Law First" approach
can seem to give one a sense of security. But such security
is transient, and it leaves many others out in the cold.
Luke tell us that Jesus came to bring God's "tender
mercy" into our world (Lk. 1:78). And often that tender
mercy focused especially on those then left out in the
cold--the marginalized.[36] Pope Francis knows that
the kind of tender mercy Jesus showed must come
first if we are to follow Jesus' example--as difficult as
that sometimes is.
(A note to our Protestant friends: Protestants may not
apply the term Reformation [a concept we greatly
value--and rightfully so] to Catholic tradition. We forget
that Martin Luther never originally intended to split
with Catholic tradition and that there were in fact those
who managed to do what he could not: to reform and
yet stay within the tradition. One way to reform was
either to reform an order or to start a new order. The
latter is what St. Ignatius of Loyola [Pope Francis’s
spiritual forebear] did: he started a new order in which
he taught great fidelity to Christ. That order is the
Jesuits. St. Francis of Assisi had done something
similar before him—launching the Franciscan order.
St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross were
reformers by renewing their order, the Carmelites.
Certainly, there were others who took a similar path.
And, more recently, Vatican II (1962-1965) was a
reform movement. Today, Pope Francis has become
known as The Great Reformer[37]--especially in terms
of attitudes. There is refreshing newness in his
“revolution of tenderness”: he calls for a
transformation of spirit, heart, soul, and approach.
And he laments and acknowledges that “God weeps”
deeply regarding any institutional wrongs of the
past.[38]
Also see a previous post regarding new official
agreement between Protestant and Catholic
theologians regarding God's immense mercy
and GRACE.[39] Further, see new comments added
4/22/25--one day after Pope Francis's passing: scroll
to the end of today's post, just before the Notes.)
* * *
We draw to a close with thoughts for meditation:
Praying with Ps. 23; Lk. 15:4, 13, 18, 20; RSV, NRSVCE:
(Also with reflection upon Rom. 8:15, Mk. 14:36, Gal. 4:6.
See further comment about "Abba" below.)
* * *
An opening to prayer/meditation:
We quoted Pope Francis above: “It is the Spirit …who spurs us
to say to God: 'Father' or, rather, 'Abba!', which means 'papa' …. Our
God is like this: he is a dad to us… [note Lk. 15:20]. And this is the
greatest gift ...” (For protector see Ps. 121:5, CEB; Ps. 68:5,
NRSVCE.)
(Similarly, when speaking of the opening line of the prayer Jesus
taught, the Lord's Prayer, Helmut Thielicke (quoting Martin Luther)
says: "[Our Father] enables us to say these 'friendly, sweet, and
tender words,' as Luther called them: Our Father.... [K]now the
secret that the Father's voice is really and truly calling our name in
the dark ... and that we can answer as beloved children: 'Abba!
Father!'"[40])
* * *
“Respect (meditating upon Revelation 3:20)”
“God is always courteous and does not invade the privacy of
the human soul.” – Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
Gentle Lord, I love You!
You tiptoe ’cross my heart.
You sit beside me quietly and wait.
For years I lost track of You,
but in some silent hours
I heard Your tender footsteps at my gate.
And even when I opened
the gate to let You in,
You entered in with absolute respect—
hoping not to scare me
or make me see too soon
the wondrous . . . awesome . . . grandeur
of my Guest!
How do I know You love me?
It is the quiet peace,
the patient way that You will work with me—
a Sovereign who tiptoes
and treats with full respect
the one who could be . . . simply . . .
property!
(And in turn, "Let your gentleness be known to everyone";
Phil. 4:5, NRSV, NRSVCE.)
“HOME (a Meditation)”
(With reflection upon Mt. 18:3; Ps. 131; Lk. 15:12-24. Pope Francis
mentioned above that “God treats us as [God’s] children, he
understands us” and treats us with a parent’s tender love.
Our response can also be in terms of this metaphor.)
* * *
Prayer at a difficult time:
Your "Tender Loving Care" pursues me,
in spite of my restlessness and silly lack of faith.
Each day You seem to put the exact right “reading” into my hands.*
I cannot doubt its aptness—
nor the surprising place I might find it.
Yes, Your Tender
Loving Care!
Why is that not enough for me?
Why do I flutter away
to the land of
unbelief ?—
from which You must pull me back again
with unfailing TLC,
with TENDER . .
. LOVING . . . CARE!
(With reflection upon Psalm 25, which speaks of God’s TLC: i.e.,
“tender mercies,” “lovingkindness” and care throughout [see ASV,
KJV, WEB]. See other biblical references to TLC in our notes.[41] )
* “As you grow ready for it, somewhere or other you will
find [just] what is needful for you in a book or a friend
[scripture, etc.] …”- George MacDonald [42]
* * *
“Tender Touch (meditation upon Luke 10)”
“Martha, Martha, ... you worry and fret about so many
things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one." *
- Jesus, Lk. 10:41-42, NJB
* To learn at Jesus' feet. He was right there with her!
(With reflection upon Rev. 3:20.)
* * *
(Many ask what it would be like to be touched by God. The
famous St. John of the Cross gives us one answer[44]--with
similarity to some of Pope Francis's comments above.)
Meditating upon (quoting) St. John of the Cross’s inside view of
God’s tender [“gentle”] love:
* * *
We Add a Comment the Day after Pope Francis's Death:
Although Pope Francis was in very fragile condition, just four
days before his death, he visited a prison to bring his revolution
of tenderness to those there. It had been his practice previously
to tenderly wash the feet of prisoners on what is known as
Maundy or Holy Thursday (commemorating the eve before
Jesus' sacrificial death): just as Jesus had taken the role of a
servant and washed his disciple's feet on that fateful eve--even
washing the feet of Judas, his betrayer (Jn. 13).
Pope Francis was not quite strong enough to preform this
manual task, as he had previously, on his last Holy Thursday.
But he could still go out of his way to tenderly fulfill Jesus'
words, "I was in prison and you came to me. ... Truly, I say to
you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you
did it to me"; (Mt. 25:36,40). In this very last visit to a prison
Pope Francis once again made mercy and the theology of
tenderness visual, real, and manifested in our too often cruel,
indifferent world.
* * *
(Note: shape form meditations above are meant to evoke
the childlike heart (Mt. 28:3), which in turn can serve as an
entry to a more meditative heart. Heart shapes refer to the
"great divine romance of Heaven" for us; see our 7/3/15 post.)
(See additional blog posts after the
“Notes” in “Older/Newer Posts.”)
…………………………
Notes:
8. Pope Francis, “The Name of God is Mercy: A conversation with Andrea Tornielli,” trans. Oonagh Stransky (New York: Random House, 2016), p. 52; Ivereigh, The Great Reformer, pp. 168-169.
9. Carol Glatz, “Seek, share God’s mercy with the lost, unwanted, pope tells priests,”
Catholic News Service, 6/15/15; http://ncronline.org/blogs/francis-chronicles/seek-share-gods-mercy-lost-unwanted-pope-tells-priests.
10. See our earlier post: “‘Love First’ or ‘Law First’ (and God’s Tender Love)”; https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2015/04/law-first-or-love-first-and-gods-tender.html
11. Eun Kyung Ki, “Pope Francis named Time’s 2013 Person of the Year,” Today News,
Dec. 12, 2013; www.today.com/news/pope-francis-named-times-2013-person-year-2D11723759.
12. “Homily of Pope Francis” (Inauguration mass), Mar. 19, 2013; www.w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130319_omelia-inizio-pontificato.html.
13. Glatz, “Seek, share God’s mercy with the lost, unwanted, pope tells priests,” Catholic
News Service, 6/15/15.
14. Deborah Castellano Lubov, “Pope Francis: ‘No One is Excluded from The Mercy of
God!’” (homily), ZENIT: The world seen from Rome, 3/13/15;
www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-no-one-is-excluded-from-the-mercy-of-god.
15. Carl E. Olson, “Pope Francis, Romans 8, and the theme of theosis” (homily), The
Catholic World Report, 5/8/13:
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/2242/pope_francis_romans_8_and_the_theme_of_theosis.as
(Regarding “Abba,” see Mk. 14:36. Many scholars believe this intimate Aramaic
address must have been used more frequently by Jesus, since it shows up in
usage by the early church, as in Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).
16. Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel: Evangelii Gaudium, p. 184 (No. 274).
17. Ibid., pp. 125-126 (No. 178); quoting in turn: John Paul II, “Message to
the Handicapped,” Angelus, 11/16/80: Insegnamenti, 3/2 (1980), 1232.
18. “Pope Francis: ‘Be silent, so we can hear the tenderness of God’” (homily),
12/12/2013, Vatican Radio.
19. Ibid (emphasis added).
20. Linda Bordoni reporting, “Pope [Francis]: we can’t be book-keepers of God’s love”
(homily), Vatican Radio, 12/11/14;
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/12/11/pope_we_cant_be_book-keepers_of_gods_love/1114379.
21. Ibid.
22. Yonat Shimron, “‘How do we welcome the tenderness of God?’ Pope Francis’
Christmas Eve homily,” Religious News Service, 12/24/14;
http://www.religionnews.com/2014/12/24/welcome-tenderness-god-pope-francis-christmas-eve-homily/ (emphasis added)..
23. Pope Francis, “Never be afraid of tenderness,” interview with Andrea Tornielli,
Vatican Insider, 12/16/13;
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/30620/, (emphasis added).
24. Francis@Pontifex, 5 May 2013;
https://twitter.com/Pontifex?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor.
25. Pope Francis, “Homily for inaugural Mass of Petrine Ministry”; Vatican Radio:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/storico/2013/03/19/pope__homily_for_inaugural_mass_of_petrine_ministry_
[full_text]/en1-674758.
26. McCarthy, “Pope [Francis] at Mass: The science of tenderness,” Vatican Radio,
6/7/13 (emphasis added).
27. Pope Francis, “The Name of God is Mercy: A conversation with Andrea Tornielli,”
p. 34.
28. Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel: Evangelii Gaudium, p. 181 (No. 269).
29. Ibid.
30. Pope Francis, Homily for Third Worldwide Priests’ Retreat, Vatican radio,
6/12/15; https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2015/documents/papa-francesco_20150612_
omelia-ritiro-mondiale-sacerdoti.html (emphasis added).
31. Ibid. (emphasis added).
32. Ibid. (emphasis added).
33. Lubov, “Pope Francis: ‘No One is Excluded from The Mercy of God!’” ZENIT,
3/13/15.
34. See “Audience with the participants in the Conference on ‘The theology of tenderness in Pope Francis’, 13.09.2018”, SUMMARY OF BULLETIN, Holy See
Press Office;
35. See Note 10.
36. See "We Love (Extend Mercy & Justice) Because God First Loved Us" and
especially Note 11 there;
37. Ivereigh, The Great Reformer.
38. E.g., see Scott Neuman, “Pope: ‘God Weeps’ For Victims of Sex Abuse,”
The Two-Way, NPR, 9/27/15;
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/27/443896866/pope-to-end-his-u-s-visit-
with-million-strong-mass-in-philadelphia.
39. See Note 35 in “Martin Luther’s Neglected Tenderness”;
40. Helmut Thielicke, Our Heavenly Father: Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, trans. John
W. Doberstein (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960), p. 29, emphasis added.
41. We speak of God’s TLC as “tender mercies,” “lovingkindness”
and care as in Ps. 25:6 and throughout this psalm, KJV, WEB, ASV.
(Also see Ps. 40:11, 51:1, 69:16, 103:4; KJV, ASV, WEB, AMPC and Lam. 3:32,
Ps. 119:156; AMPC.) And see "loving kindness" in Titus 3:4, NRSVCE
and Ps. 63:3-4, NJB. For "care" and "tender mercy," see 1 Pet. 5:7
and Lk. 1:78 respectively; NRSVCE. (Catholic translations in red.)
42. George MacDonald, Knowing the Heart of God, ed. Michael R. Phillips
(Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1990), p. 190 (from The Marquis’ Secret).
43. Meditations, prayer/poetry/proverbs by Lorraine B. Eshleman (exception,
see Note 44).
44. From “The Living Flame of Love by St. John of the Cross” (Stanza 2,
Exposition), trans. David Lewis, quoted in Bernard McGinn, The Essential
Writings of Christian Mysticism (New York: Modern Library Classics, 2006),
p. 220. (I've taken the liberty of replacing “you” with “YOU” when St. John
addresses God, replacing "most" with "MOST," and putting his words into a
shape form meditation.)
Great! I'm very impressed by him as a real leader.
ReplyDeleteThe Pope commented on separating parents & children at the border last week. Did you hear?
ReplyDeleteI hope Pope Francis can bring some good out of this latest tragic mess--Aug. 2018!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed to see the pope stressing the same emphasis you are here. Is this really consistent for him?
ReplyDeleteJust watch him--yes it is. Also we've known many Jesuits for whom this emphasis is also consistent (if they are true to their foundation spiritual formation, which we've also studied).
ReplyDeleteThe question was asked earlier: "Is this really consistent for Pope Francis?" Please note his more recent stress on a "THEOLOGY OF TENDERNESS." See Note 34 and the link there.
ReplyDelete