Pope
Francis reflects on the loving nature of God’s hands, saying even when
scolding us, these hands never give a slap but instead a caress.
This
was the focus of his homily at the Tuesday morning mass at the Santa
Marta Guest House.
In
his homily Pope Francis reflected on the reading from the Book of
Wisdom that recalls how we are created from the soil by God’s hands,
“those hands which have never abandoned us.” “God created man to be
incorruptible,” said the Pope but the devil entered the world and those
who belong to him know all about it.
He went on: “We all have
to undergo death but it’s one thing to undergo this experience when
belonging to the devil and it’s another to undergo this experience when
in the hands of God.”
“Our God, like a Father with his child, teaches
us to walk, teaches us to walk along the path of life and salvation.
It’s God’s hands who caress us in our moments of pain and who comforts
us.”
God’s hands, the Pope continued, “are hands that are wounded
from love” and who heal us. “I could never imagine those hands giving
us a slap, Never. Never.” “Even when he scolds us, he does it with a
caress.”
The Pope ended his homily by urging those present to
reflect on “God’s hands who created us like a craftsman.” They are
wounded hands and they accompany us throughout life. Let us, he said,
“entrust ourselves into God’s hands like a child put its hand into the
hand of its father. It’s a safe hand.”