Pope Leo: 'No situation could make God turn His gaze from us'
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
"To each of you I say: God loves you just as you are, but He dreams of you being even better! The Lord allows us all to start anew, for being human and being Christian does not mean never making mistakes, but rather growing in the ability to convert, repent, make amends and, above all, to reconcile and forgive."
Pope Leo XIV gave this powerful reminder on Wednesday morning at the Brians 1 Penitential Center during his Apostolic Journey to Spain, saying that this is a consoling truth that accompanies us at all times.
Moreover, he stressed this reminds us how His merciful love always outweighs what we have done, for good or bad.
"Every human being," the Holy Father insisted, "is 'worthy' by the mere fact of having been willed, created and loved by God. There is, therefore, no situation that causes the Lord to turn His gaze away from us."
Lift up your eyes to He who always loves you
The Pope said this is especially true for those who are bearing the burden of being far from their loved ones and who suffer because of their current circumstances.
"When you are tempted to feel inferior and think it is not worth going on," Pope Leo said, "lift up your eyes to the One who, through the presence of so many people, never ceases to show you His love and closeness."
Don't let anxiety and sadness bring you down
He acknowledged that even if anxiety and sadness mark certain moments of your journey, remember that life's mistakes do not define a person's identity.
He recalled that Saint Augustine, in his Confessions, speaks of this when the Lord shares His life journey with us.
"If we trust in divine grace and allow ourselves to be guided and transformed by it, we discover in our lives how the past does not condemn the future but rather, as the great Saint continued, offers us the possibility of changing our decisions and choices."
Thus, Pope Leo invited them to make room for the Lord in their hearts and seek His face.
"Let us allow His love to guide us. Let us cling to Him, who continually invites us to hope," he said.
For He, the Pope reassured, shows us a wonderful horizon that no physical barrier can prevent us from reaching.
Today, he noted, the Lord continues to speak to us in the depths of our consciences, helping us discover that He dwells among us.
He waits for us to give Him a chance
He is only waiting for us to give Him a chance, he said.
Thus, Pope Leo said, "I invite you to keep dreaming God's dream and let Him start us anew."
With these comforting words, Pope Leo concluded by entrusting the prisoners in a special way to the maternal intercession of Our Lady of Mercy and imparting his Apostolic blessing.
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