Forgiveness and Mercy
“God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14). … Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.” (Pope Francis – Easter Urbi et Orbi message on March 31, 2013)
If we believe that God has imposed arbitrary rules on us, then we tend to think that the guilt we experience from not following those rules is unnecessary, annoying, and a hindrance to our personal freedom. After all, what does it really matter what I do, as long as I don’t hurt anyone else? And why should I feel bad about it? However, the guilt we experience on a daily basis is not as arbitrary as we might think. When we do something contradictory to God’s love, we don’t just fail to attain some external goal, we contradict our very nature.