VATICAN CORNER
Con!nued … Mercy is a theme very dear to Pope Francis. He has recounted his very first experience of God’s mercy in his own life, when he walked into a confessional as a 17 year old in Buenos Aires and walked out knowing that he was called to consecrate his life to the Lord. That date, September 21st, marked the feast of the conversion of St Ma%hew – the tax collector. Tax collectors in the days of St. Ma%hew were social outcasts. Devout Jews avoided them because they were usually dishonest (the job carried no salary, and they were expected to make their profits by chea!ng the people from whom they collected taxes). Patrio!c and na!onalis!c Jews hated them because they were agents of the Roman government, the conquerors, and double hatred them (like Ma%hew) because they were Jews, who had gone over to the enemy, betraying their own people for money. Jesus said to Ma%hew ‘Follow Me! And Ma%hew got up and followed Him. Jesus said ‘I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ Centuries later, a homily by St. Bede addressed the gaze of Jesus on the tax collector St. Ma%hew. St. Bede used the words “By having mercy, by choosing him” as that sen!ment in the heart of Jesus. Pope Francis must be picturing Jesus looking down on him in a similar way, because Francis chose these words for his moto as bishop. A-er his elec!on as Pope he stated “Feeling mercy, that this word changes everything. This is the best thing we can feel: it changes the world. A li%le mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to understand properly this mercy of God, this merciful Father who is so pa!ent.” We are living in the age of mercy”. Pope Francis expressed: “How greatly I desire that all those places where the Church is present, especially our parishes and our communi!es, may become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference!.” He said the call of Jesus pushes each of us never to stop at the surface of things, especially when we are dealing with a person. We are called to look beyond, to focus on the heart to see how much generosity everyone is capable. No one can be excluded from the mercy of God; everyone knows the way to access it and the Church is the house that welcomes all and refuses no one. Its doors remain wide open, so that those who are touched by grace can find the certainty of forgiveness. The greater the sin, so much the greater must be the love that the Church expresses toward those who convert. “Dear brothers and sisters, I have o-en thought about how the Church might make clear its mission of being a witness to mercy. It is a journey that begins with a spiritual conversion. For this reason, I have decided to call an extraordinary Jubilee that is to have the mercy of God at its center. It shall be a Holy Year of Mercy. We want to live this Year in the light of the Lord’s words: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. to be con!nued …
Sources: Justusanglican.org, telegraph.co.uk, Va!can radio, archlou.org