Sep 12, 2010 / 04:33 am
"Repentance is the measure of the faith and thanks to it one returns to the Truth," taught the Holy Father on Sunday. Making reference to the parable of the prodigal son, he said that "only faith" can bring joy out of selfishness and renew relationships with God and neighbor.
Standing out among the crowd of pilgrims in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo for Sunday's Angelus prayer was a bubbly group of Poles. Also making themselves known were separate Italian groups who had arrived by bicycle and motorcycle.
Before praying the Angelus with these and the many others gathered, Pope Benedict XVI explained that Jesus' three "parables of mercy" from Sunday's liturgy are "no mere words." Rather, "they constitute an explanation of His very being and activity."
The shepherd who finds the lost sheep is "the Lord himself" who redeems "sinful humanity" by taking it upon himself, said the Pope. And the parable of the prodigal son, he explained, shows a young man who takes his inheritance out into the world only to be "reduced to misery."