Our Holy Father, Pope Francis has given us a gift — the Jubilee of Mercy which will be observed by the universal church from Dec. 8, 2015 through Nov. 20, 2016. Observing a Jubilee Year is biblical in origin. In the Jewish tradition it was an opportunity for Israel to make right her relationship with God. In the year 1300 AD the Church began observing the Jubilee Year and has done so with regularity every 50 years. The last Jubilee Year was declared by Saint John Paul II for the year 2000, the beginning of the third millennium. On occasions of particular importance in the history of Christianity an Extraordinary Jubilee has been observed. For example, the year 1933 was declared a Jubilee Year to celebrate 1,900 years of the redemption of the human race dating from the death and resurrection of the Lord in the year 33 AD.
This Jubilee of Mercy is an Extraordinary Jubilee and it is much needed. This gift can encourage us to live our faith with deeper conviction. It can renew us as missionary disciples of Jesus Christ. It can help us to know better the mystery of God. As with any gift, the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy must be used in order for it to have results in our lives. Through our active participation in the various events and celebrations of the Jubilee of Mercy, may that happen.
The Jubilee will be a time for us to focus on the Mercy of God; to experience deeply God’s Mercy and to share our experience of God’s Mercy with others. Practicing the Spiritual and Corporal works of Mercy provides us with opportunities to share and show Mercy. Pope Francis reminds us that, “Mercy indicates God’s action toward us.” In other words, Mercy is how God relates to us. May each of us have a deepening experience of or encounter with God’s Mercy as this Jubilee Year unfolds.
Mercy is at the heart of the Gospel. It is central to the teaching and preaching of Jesus Christ by which He showed that He is the face of God’s Mercy. He preached the Mercy of God. He taught the Mercy of God. During the Extraordinary Jubilee may we experience God’s Mercy flooding into our lives. May we fill up on it so that it affects our relationships with one another. May we exchange Mercy with one another. May we be faces of Christ’s Mercy in our world. The motto of this Extraordinary Jubilee is “Merciful like the Father.” May that describe us. As the Holy Father wrote: “At times we are called to gaze even more attentively on Mercy so that we can become more effective signs of the Father’s action in our lives.”
Throughout the Year of Mercy the Jubilee Committee of our diocese has planned a variety of observances which will be published through the parish bulletins; the diocesan website and the Catholic Star Herald. I invite each of you to join in whatever way you can in order to experience the grace of the Lord which will be in abundance throughout this Jubilee.
One important feature of the Year of Mercy is a pilgrimage which terminates at a Holy Door. Pope Francis has given permission to erect in each diocese a HOLY DOOR. In order to accommodate our faithful and to make it easily available to do a pilgrimage to a Holy Door I have erected five pilgrimage churches in the diocese. The list of the pilgrimage churches follows this column. “The Holy Door will become a Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons and instills hope” writes Pope Francis. An Indulgence (the remission of the effects of sin) is available for those who make pilgrimage and walk through a Holy Door. Let each Catholic in our diocese pass through a Holy Door during this Jubilee Year and know the Mercy of God.
Let us allow God to surprise us this Jubilee Year with a personal experience of the “balm of Mercy” with the result of a personal commitment to live the Mercy of Christ. Please, invite others, particularly those who are away from the church to join you for this Year of Amazing Grace. Give them the gift of the Jubilee of Mercy which our Holy Father has given to us.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden
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