Miserando atque eligendo

I am no Latin scholar and never pretend to be.  Rather what I do here is simply present the motto of Pope Francis for his coat of arms, and I only discover it now.  They are words taken from a homily given by Venerable Bede, Doctor of the Church from 8th century England.  His homily was on Jesus' choosing Matthew, the tax collector and as such a publicly recognized sinner of his time.  In the gospel scene, Jesus looked at Matthew, the public sinner, chose him and called him.  He was chosen with the look of mercy.  It was as simple as that.  It is a story of mercy that has spoken to and motivated Francis through his life as bishop and now Pope.

Given my lack of Latin, I ask what does this defining phrase mean?

Following Francis' own explanation, "miserando" means "reaching into somebody with mercy".  So Francis describes it as "mercifying" which is his own word used to give fuller meaning to the Latin.  So Jesus entered into Matthew with mercy and mercied him.  In this way, Jesus chose him - "atque eligendo".

This then is Francis' motto -   I am mercied and so chosen and loved by God. That is the same for each one of us - we are all mercied and loved by God.  I reflect on this during a week special for two close friends back home.  One gave birth to a gorgeous little boy.  The other lost her dear mother.  Both special experiences involved their own history of great struggle and great love.  My two friends do not know each other but I see how their own treasured experiences of this week reflect each other in a world ruled God's love, a love by defined by God's own mercy for each one of us.