Pope Francis told a story at the general audience of January 19 of a theater production he saw “long ago” that moved him.
“I don’t know if I have already told this story,” he said, describing a group of youth in a theatre club, who “were struck by this parable of the merciful father and decided to create a pop theatre production on this matter, with this story.”
“And they did it well,” the Holy Father reminisced.
And the story is that, at the end, a friend listens to a son who is estranged from his father, who wanted to return home but was afraid that his father would kick him out and punish him.
And the friend, said, “Send a messenger to say that you want to return home, and if your father will receive you, to put a handkerchief in the window, the window you can see as soon as you take the last part of the path home.” And this was done.
And the work, with singing and dancing, continues until the moment that the son turns onto the last stretch of the road and sees the house. And when he looks up, he sees the house full of white handkerchiefs: full of them. Not one, but three or four in every window.
This is God’s mercy. He is not deterred by our past, by the bad things we have done; settling the accounts with God is a beautiful thing, because we begin to talk, and he embraces us. Tenderness!
And today we celebrate...