Year of Mercy

On December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis begins. In a letter to the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, which you can read here, Pope Francis expressed his hopes for this Year of Mercy. Among them are the reception of indulgences by the faithful and the practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy by all members of the Church. Pope Francis flings the doors of mercy wide open, for prisoners, for women who have had abortions, and even for the schismatic priests of the Fraternity of St. Pius X. If there is one idea the Holy Father wishes to convey, it is the indiscriminate availability of grace and forgiveness for every repentant person, regardless of the gravity of their sin or the conditions they currently live with:

"The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented, especially when that person approaches the Sacrament of Confession with a sincere heart in order to obtain reconciliation with the Father."

And what is our response to this unfathomable mercy? Pope Francis asks us not only to receive, but to partake in this mercy and share it with others through acts of charity:

"I have asked the Church in this Jubilee Year to rediscover the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The experience of mercy, indeed, becomes visible in the witness of concrete signs as Jesus himself taught us. Each time that one of the faithful personally performs one or more of these actions, he or she shall surely obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Hence the commitment to live by mercy so as to obtain the grace of complete and exhaustive forgiveness by the power of the love of the Father who excludes no one. The Jubilee Indulgence is thus full, the fruit of the very event which is to be celebrated and experienced with faith, hope and charity."

The theme of mercy is the focus of World Youth Day 2016 (Matthew 5:7: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy). Let us meditate on the superabundance of this mercy and on the ways in which we share it with those around us - and take advantage of the incredible gift that is the sacrament of confession.