Forgive me friends, it has been a while again since I posted. After the spiritual high I was on after my retreat at New Norcia, I have fallen back into old habits. I was in post break up depression, immersed myself in work sometimes 10-12 hour days, lust, lethargy and acedia.
All of this reminds me of how badly I NEED mercy in my life, God's precious Mercy for myself and for others. There is a lot of debate going around in right wing, conservative Catholic cirlces at the moment about mercy being made meaningless and cheap without a correct understanding of sin. So recognising how much my sin distances me from God and alienates me from my true self in Christ, also reminds me of how desperate I am in need of Mercy and how humbled I need to be to ask for mercy and forgiveness.
I wanted to share with you Pope Francis' homily for the opening of the year of Mercy and highlight parts which I felt I need to hear.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In a few moments I will have the joy of opening the Holy Door of
Mercy. We carry out this act, so simple yet so highly symbolic, in the
light of the word of God which we have just heard. That word highlights
the primacy of grace. Again and again these readings make us think of
the words by which the angel Gabriel told an astonished young girl of
the mystery which was about to enfold her: “Hail, full of grace” (Lk
1:28).
The Virgin Mary was called to rejoice above all because of what the
Lord accomplished in her. God’s grace enfolded her and made her worthy
of becoming the Mother of Christ. When Gabriel entered her home, even
the most profound and impenetrable of mysteries became for her a cause
for joy, faith and abandonment to the message revealed to her. The
fullness of grace can transform the human heart and enable it to do
something so great as to change the course of human history.
The feast of the Immaculate Conception expresses the grandeur of
God’s love. Not only does he forgive sin, but in Mary he even averts the
original sin present in every man and woman who comes into this world.
This is the love of God which precedes, anticipates and saves. The
beginning of the history of sin in the Garden of Eden yields to a plan
of saving love. The words of Genesis reflect our own daily experience:
we are constantly tempted to disobedience, a disobedience expressed in
wanting to go about our lives without regard for God’s will. This is the
enmity which keeps striking at people’s lives, setting them in
opposition to God’s plan. Yet the history of sin can only be understood
in the light of God’s love and forgiveness. Were sin the only thing that
mattered, we would be the most desperate of creatures. But the promised
triumph of Christ’s love enfolds everything in the Father’s mercy. The
word of God which we have just heard leaves no doubt about this. The
Immaculate Virgin stands before us as a privileged witness of this
promise and its fulfilment.
This Extraordinary Holy Year is itself a gift of grace. To pass
through the Holy Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the
Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each
of them. This will be a year in which we grow ever more convinced of
God’s mercy. How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of
sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of their being
forgiven by his mercy (cf. Saint Augustine, De Praedestinatione
Sanctorum, 12, 24)! But that is the truth. We have to put mercy before
judgment, and in any event God’s judgement will always be in the light
of his mercy. In passing through the Holy Door, then, may we feel that
we ourselves are part of this mystery of love. Let us set aside all fear
and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. Instead,
let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms
all things.
Today, as we pass through the Holy Door, we also want to remember
another door, which fifty years ago the Fathers of the Second Vatican
Council opened to the world. This anniversary cannot be remembered only
for the legacy of the Council’s documents, which testify to a great
advance in faith. Before all else, the Council was an encounter. A
genuine encounter between the Church and the men and women of our time.
An encounter marked by the power of the Spirit, who impelled the Church
to emerge from the shoals which for years had kept her self-enclosed so
as to set out once again, with enthusiasm, on her missionary journey. It
was the resumption of a journey of encountering people where they live:
in their cities and homes, in their workplaces. Wherever there are
people, the Church is called to reach out to them and to bring the joy
of the Gospel. After these decades, we again take up this missionary
drive with the same power and enthusiasm. The Jubilee challenges us to
this openness, and demands that we not neglect the spirit which emerged
from Vatican II, the spirit of the Samaritan, as Blessed Paul VI
expressed it at the conclusion of the Council. May our passing through
the Holy Door today commit us to making our own the mercy of the Good
Samaritan.
Our Lady of Mercy and Refuge of sinners - pray for us
