After two World Wars and the Cold War, after the Holocaust, after the genocides in Armenia, the Ukraine, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur, after so many atrocities from tyrannical governments, after the waterfalls of blood flowing from more than two billion abortions worldwide, after the sins that have destroyed so many families, after so much physical and sexual abuse, after lengthy crime logs in newspapers every day, after the scourge of terrorism, after so much hurt and pain, the terrible weight of collective guilt crushes not only individuals but burdens structures and whole societies.<\/p>\n
The modern world is like one big Lady Macbeth, compulsively washing our hands to remove the blood from them, but there is no earthly detergent powerful enough to take the blemishes away. We can converse with psychiatrists and psychologists, but their words and prescriptions can only help us deal with our guilt, not eliminate it. We can confess ourselves to bartenders, but they can only dispense Absolut vodka, not absolution, and inebriation never brings expiation. We can escape reality through distractions and addictions \u2014 drugs, sports, entertainment, materialism, food, power, lust, and others \u2014 but none can adequately anaesthetize the pain in our soul from the suffering we\u2019ve caused or witnessed.<\/p>\n
Whether we admit it, whether we realize it or not, we\u2019re longing for redemption. We\u2019re yearning for a second, third or seventy-times-seventh chance. We\u2019re pining for forgiveness, reconciliation, and a restoration of goodness. We\u2019re hankering for a giant reset button for ourselves and for the world. And if we can\u2019t have that personal and collective do over, then at least we ache for liberation from the past and, like Zacchaeus or Ebenezer Scrooge, for a chance make up for has been done. We want atonement.<\/p>\n
And God responds to our age\u2019s great desire and need for expiation with his mercy.<\/p>\n
In a homily on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday this year, Pope Francis explained the reason why he decided to call for a Jubilee of Mercy now.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany question in their hearts,\u201d he said, \u201cwhy a Jubilee of Mercy today?\u00a0Simply because the Church, in this time of great historical change, is called to offer more evident signs of God\u2019s presence and closeness.\u00a0\u2026This is a time for the Church to rediscover the meaning of the mission entrusted to her by the Lord on the day of Easter: to be a sign and an instrument of the Father\u2019s mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was calling for a Holy Year, he continued, \u201cto welcome the numerous signs of the tenderness that God offers to the whole world and, above all, to those who suffer, who are alone and abandoned, without hope of being pardoned or feeling the Father\u2019s love; \u2026 to experience strongly within ourselves the joy of having been found by Jesus, the Good Shepherd who has come in search of us because we were lost; \u00a0\u2026 to receive the warmth of his love when he bears us upon his shoulders and brings us back to the Father\u2019s house; \u2026\u00a0[and] to be touched by the Lord Jesus and to be transformed by his mercy, so that we may become witnesses to mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reason for the Jubilee, he said in short, is \u201cbecause this is the time for mercy, \u2026 the favorable time to heal wounds, a time not to be weary of meeting all those who are waiting to see and to touch with their hands the signs of the closeness of God, a time to offer everyone the way of forgiveness and reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Church is like a \u201cfield hospital in battle,\u201d to use Pope Francis\u2019 famous image, and he\u2019s called a Year of Mercy to open up this worldwide spiritual MASH unit, to nurse and help heal ours and the world\u2019s deepest wounds.<\/p>\n
How are we to live it well? I will write in answer to that question throughout this Jubilee.<\/p>\n
But to help get it off to a good start, I\u2019d like to propose briefly four pillars:<\/p>\n
First, come frequently to receive God\u2019s mercy in the Sacrament Jesus founded on Easter Sunday evening to forgive us of our sins and give us the joy of experience Resurrection through Reconciliation.<\/p>\n
Second, take seriously and practice what Jesus himself revealed to St. Faustina Kowalska in the Divine Mercy Devotion as the means to grow in his mercy and share that same mercy with others.<\/p>\n
Third, deepen our understanding of God\u2019s mercy through prayerfully reading Pope Francis\u2019 \u201cThe Face of Mercy,\u201d St. John Paul II\u2019s \u201cGod Who Is Rich in Mercy\u201d and \u201cReconciliation and Penance,\u201d and other great resources I\u2019ll mention later in this series.<\/p>\n
And finally, make a resolution to practice each of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy at least one this year, to grow in our capacity to receive the fullness of God\u2019s mercy by opening our hearts in mercy in all these ways toward others.<\/p>\n
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