December 7, 2015
The Church’s Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy begins Tuesday, December 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
This special focus on God’s mercy is certainly needed in a world grown weary of regular acts of violence and terrorism. To quote Pope Francis:
” … we must admit that the practice of mercy is waning in the wider culture. In some cases the word seems to have dropped out of use. However, without a witness to such mercy, life becomes fruitless and sterile, as if sequestered in a barren desert. The time has come for the Church to take up the joyful call to mercy once more. It is time to return to the basics and to bear the weakness and struggles of our brothers and sisters. Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instills in us the courage to look to the future with hope.”
To help this essential cause, Paulist Fr. Mark-David Janus has created “Crossing the Threshold of Mercy: A Spiritual Guide for the Extraordinary Year of Mercy.” This helpful new Paulist Press book contains quotations for spiritual reflection each day and the year’s official calendar of events.
To get us started, the book contains the “Prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee of Mercy”:
Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his betrayal,
and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this of you, Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy; you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.
May the Year of Mercy be a source of grace and strength for you and your loved ones, and may it bring courage and hope to our world.