This, Francis added, “also applies to us….How many of us would deserve to be condemned! And it would be just! But he forgives.” How? “With mercy, which does not erase the sin: only God’s forgiveness erases it, while mercy goes further.” It is “like the sky: we look at the sky when it is full of stars, but when the sun comes out in the morning, with all its light, we don’t see the stars anymore. That is what God’s mercy is like: a great light of love and tenderness because God forgives not with a decree, but with a caress.” He does it “by caressing the wounds of our sin because he is involved
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