He Loved Us First

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The joy that Pope Francis exuded throughout his pontificate is probably the quality I most admired about him, and wish I could emulate. I tend to be critical, prone to self-censure, and very much aware that I am a sinner.

Of course, just after being elected, Pope Francis famously described himself as a sinner, though he followed that with the words, “but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I, on the other hand, tend to look back from Christ to the Old Testament God, who smote sinners, caused the earth to swallow up entire households, and sent a flood to drown the whole world. I hold this view despite opposing scriptural evidence and numerous Church teachings that ours is a god of mercy, a god who saves, a god who sent his only begotten son into the world not to condemn us but to bring salvation and reconcile us with God.

So when Pope Francis came along 12 years ago, speaking about joy, I was a bit uneasy. Eight months after he was elected he issued an apostolic exhortation called The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Guadium), and thereafter he spoke regularly about joy. It endures, he said, it springs from a grateful heart, it’s a gift from God that fills us from within.

As might be inferred by the title of his apostolic exhortation, Francis said that Jesus was the source of his joy. He found that joy in the Gospel, he said, particularly the Beatitudes. 

Having studied the Sermon on the Mount, I understand where the pope is coming from, but the comfort and mercy that may await me in the kingdom of heaven is too distant a promise to cause joy to well in my heart today.

However, Francis continued to speak about joy; it was one of his constant themes. In his fourth and final encyclical letter, written a few months before he died, he offered reasons to rejoice that are more immediate than the promise of heaven. Jesus’ “open heart has gone before us and waits for us, unconditionally, asking only to offer us his love and friendship,” he wrote in Dilexit Nos (On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ).

I’ve been studying this document recently because the Catholic Church dedicates the month of June to the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I’ve been aware of this devotion for quite a while, but this year I decided to learn more, and Dilexit Nos is more than adequate for this purpose. Pope Francis writes clearly, and his style is pastoral rather than academic. 

This is not to say that he ignores theology; the encyclical letter has more than 200 citations that quote everyone from Pius XI to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to Saint John Paul II, not to mention the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Bible itself. But these are footnotes, and the text itself is easily understood without them.

“He loved us,” are the words the pope uses to open Dilexit Nos, quoting Saint Paul in the Letter to the Romans, speaking of Christ. The pope then adds that the Lord’s “open heart has gone before us and waits for us, unconditionally. …” He reinforces this by quoting the Gospel of John, “He loved us first.”

Jesus offers us sinners unconditional love before we even approach him. I have been meditating on this thought. It’s not a unique concept; the New Testament tells us this in several different passages, and it’s the basis of quite a bit of Church teaching. Still, it’s not a message that has yet engraved itself upon my heart. I suspect that when it does, if it does, then I will exude the joy that I so admired in Pope Francis, who so obviously trusted in the infinite mercy of Christ.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.