Pope Francis points out that Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus in today’s Gospel ‘disrupts our image of God’. From Jesus’ reference to both Father and Son, the Pope says, we learn that God – Father, Son, and Spirit – is ‘a God of communion’.
Moreover, we are invited to share in this ‘communion of love’! As the Pope suggests, we can recall this invitation every time we make the sign of the cross. ‘By tracing the cross on our body,’ he says, ‘we remind ourselves how much God loved us, to the point of giving his life for us; and we repeat to ourselves that his love envelops us completely, from top to bottom, from left to right, like an embrace that never abandons us.’
As receivers of such love, we are called to also become sharers of it. As well as reminding ourselves that we are loved, the Pope says, when making the sign of the cross we also ‘commit ourselves to bear witness to God-as-love, creating communion in his name.’
Flowing from this wonderful image the Pope asks us to reflect: ‘Do we bear witness to God-as-love? … do our communities bear witness to this? … Do we always leave the door open, do we know how to welcome everyone – and I emphasise, everyone – as brothers and sisters?’
After all, the Crucified One was sent ‘not to condemn the world’ but to save it. A person can condemn themselves only by closing the door to themselves or others,
refusing to believe in God’s love. Nobody who approaches the door, be guilty of making that mistake.
© Nick Brodie
Read more from the here Parish Bulletin_10.03.2024
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