In this connection, Francis related a dialogue he had had with a man who, on being given this explanation of mercy, had answered: “Oh, Father, if you knew my life you wouldn’t talk to me like that! I have done some terrible things!” This was Francis’s reply: “Even better! Go to Jesus: he likes to hear about these things. He forgets, he has a special knack for forgetting. He forgets, he kisses you, he embraces you, and he says: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.’ That is the only advice he gives. If things haven’t changed in a month…we go back to the Lord. The
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