Songy Mercy.Pptx

Rediscovering the Face of Mercy

Rev. David Songy, O.F.M.Cap. February 18, 2016

Facilitator Introduction

Rev. David Songy, O.F.M.Cap.

Prayer for the Year of Mercy Archdiocese of Washington

Almighty God and Father, You have created all things and know the desire of every heart. In this Year of Mercy, we reflect on your great love for us, and acknowledge our sinfulness and need for your healing mercy. Trusting that you never tire of forgiving us, we open our hearts to receive your forgiveness and love. Having encountered you, Mercy itself, and guided by the Holy Spirit, may we witness to the love we have received by sharing it with those most in need: the hungry, the homeless, the afflicted and the oppressed. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Participants will: 1. Explore a theology of mercy; 2. Consider the nature of a pilgrimage as an important exercise for spiritual renewal; and 3. Identify concrete steps for conducting a pilgrimage of mercy.

A Theology of Mercy

Misericordiae Vultus

1. Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. . . . Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father (cf. Jn 14:9). Jesus of Nazareth, by his words, his actions, and his entire person reveals the mercy of God.

Misericordiae Vultus

6. “It is proper to God to exercise mercy, and he manifests his omnipotence particularly in this way”. Saint Thomas Aquinas’ words show that God’s mercy, rather than a sign of weakness, is the mark of his omnipotence. For this reason the liturgy, in one of its most ancient collects, has us pray: “O God, who reveal your power above all in your mercy and forgiveness …” Throughout the history of humanity, God will always be the One who is present, close, provident, holy, and merciful.

Misericordiae Vultus

10. Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life. All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy. The Church’s very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love. The Church “has an endless desire to show mercy”. Perhaps we have long since forgotten how to show and live the way of mercy. The temptation, on the one hand, to focus exclusively on justice made us forget that this is only the first, albeit necessary and indispensable step. But the Church needs to go beyond and strive for a higher and more important goal.

10. On the other hand, sad to say, we must admit that the practice of mercy is waning in the wider culture. In some cases the word seems to have dropped out of use. However, without a witness to mercy, life becomes fruitless and sterile, as if sequestered in a barren desert. The time has come for the Church to take up the joyful call to mercy once more. It is time to return to the basics and to bear the weaknesses and struggles of our brothers and sisters. Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instils in us the courage to look to the future with hope.

Misericordiae Vultus

5. How much I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God! May the balm of mercy reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst!

From where does Pope Francis draw his ideas?

The Revelation of Mercy It is "God, who is rich in mercy“, whom Jesus Christ has revealed to us as Father: it is His very Son who, in Himself, has manifested Him and made Him known to us.

– St. John Paul II, 1980

He Who Sees Me Sees the Father

While it is true that every individual human being is, as I said in my encyclical Redemptor Hominis, the way for the Church, at the same time the Gospel and the whole of Tradition constantly show us that we must travel this day with every individual just as Christ traced it out by revealing in Himself the Father and His love. In Jesus Christ, every path to man, is simultaneously an approach to the Father and His love.

– cf. John 14:9

The Incarnation of Mercy

• Mercy becomes visible in Christ and through Christ, through His actions and His words, and finally through His death on the cross and His resurrection. • The present-day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the human heart the very idea of mercy. • The truth, revealed in Christ, about God the "Father of mercies," enables us to "see" Him as particularly close to man especially when man is suffering, when he is under threat at the very heart of his existence and dignity….For the mystery of God the "Father of mercies" revealed by Christ becomes, in the context of today's threats to man, as it were a unique appeal addressed to the Church.

An Analogy • This analogy enables us to understand more fully the very mystery of mercy, as a profound drama played out between the father's love and the prodigality and sin of the son. • The parable indirectly touches upon every breach of the covenant of love, every loss of grace, every sin. The analogy turns clearly towards man's interior. The inheritance that the son had received from his father was a quantity of material goods, but more important than these goods was his dignity as a son in his father's house. • Nevertheless, the relationship between justice and love, that is manifested as mercy, is inscribed with great exactness in the content of the Gospel parable.

Parable of the Prodigal Son

Particular Concentration on Human Dignity • This exact picture of the prodigal son's state of mind enables us to understand exactly what the mercy of God consists in. The father of the prodigal son is faithful to his fatherhood, faithful to the love that he had always lavished on his son. • The father's fidelity to himself - a trait already known by the Old Testament term hesed - is at the same time expressed in a manner particularly charged with affection. We read, in fact, that when the father saw the prodigal son returning home "he had compassion, ran to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.” • Going on, one can therefore say that the love for the son the love that springs from the very essence of fatherhood, in a way obliges the father to be concerned about his son's dignity.

We are quick to deduce that mercy belittles the receiver, that it offends the dignity of man. The parable of the prodigal son shows that the reality is different: the relationship of mercy is based on the common experience of that good which is man, on the common experience of the dignity that is proper to him.

Mercy Revealed in the Cross and Resurrection • The messianic message of Christ and His activity among people end with the cross and resurrection. We have to penetrate deeply into this final event – which especially in the language of the Council is defined as the Mysterium Paschale – if we wish to express in depth the truth about mercy. • The events of Good Friday and, even before that, in prayer in Gethsemane, introduce a fundamental change into the whole course of the revelation of love and mercy in the messianic mission of Christ. The one who "went about doing good and healing" and "curing every sickness and disease“ now Himself seems to merit the greatest mercy and to appeal for mercy.

The Mercy of God in the Mission of the Church The Church Professes the Mercy of God and Proclaims It • The Church must profess and proclaim God's mercy in all its truth, as it has been handed down to us by revelation. • "He who has seen me has seen the Father." The Church professes the mercy of God, the Church lives by it in her wide experience of faith and also in her teaching, constantly contemplating Christ, concentrating on Him, on His life and on His Gospel, on His cross and resurrection, on His whole mystery. • Mercy in itself, as a perfection of the infinite God, is also infinite. • Conversion to God is always the fruit of the rediscovery of this Father, who is rich in mercy.

The Church Seeks to Put Mercy Into Practice Jesus Christ taught that man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but that he is also called "to practice mercy" towards others: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." The Church sees in these words a call to action, and she tries to practice mercy. All the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount indicate the way of conversion and of reform of life, but the one referring to those who are merciful is particularly eloquent in this regard. Man attains to the merciful love of God, His mercy, to the extent that he himself is interiorly transformed in the spirit of that love towards his neighbor.

Copyright Saint Luke Instute 7 The Church Seeks to Put Mercy Into Practice Mercy that is truly Christian is also, in a certain sense, the most perfect incarnation of "equality" between people, and therefore also the most perfect incarnation of justice as well, insofar as justice aims at the same result in its own sphere. However, the equality brought by justice is limited to the realm of objective and extrinsic goods, while love and mercy bring it about that people meet one another in that value which is man himself, with the dignity that is proper to him.

• Thus, mercy becomes an indispensable element for shaping mutual relationships between people, in a spirit of deepest respect for what is human, and in a spirit of mutual brotherhood. • Forgiveness demonstrates the presence in the world of the love which is more powerful than sin. Forgiveness is also the fundamental condition for reconciliation, not only in the relationship of God with man, but also in relationships between people. • A world from which forgiveness was eliminated would be nothing but a world of cold and unfeeling justice, in the name of which each person would claim his or her own rights vis-a- vis others; the various kinds of selfishness latent in man would transform life and human society into a system of oppression of the weak by the strong, or into an arena of permanent strife between one group and another.

The Holy Father’s Personal Calling through Mercy

8. The calling of Matthew is also presented within the context of mercy. Passing by the tax collector’s booth, Jesus looked intently at Matthew. It was a look full of mercy that forgave the sins of that man, a sinner and a tax collector, whom Jesus chose – against the hesitation of the disciples – to become one of the Twelve. Saint Bede the Venerable, commenting on this Gospel passage, wrote that Jesus looked upon Matthew with merciful love and chose him: miserando atque eligendo. This expression impressed me so much that I chose it for my episcopal motto.

Missionaries of Mercy

“We can’t run the risk of a penitent not perceiving the maternal love of the Church that welcomes and loves him.” – Pope Francis to the Missionaries of Mercy

1. A living sign of the Father’s welcome to all those in search of his forgiveness; 2. Facilitators for all, with no one excluded, of a truly human encounter, a source of liberation, rich with responsibility for overcoming obstacles and taking up the new life of baptism again; 3. Guided by the words, “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all”;

4. Inspiring preachers of mercy;

5. Heralds of the joy of forgiveness; 6. Welcoming, loving, and compassionate confessors, who are most especially attentive to the difficult situations of each person.

A Pilgrimage of Mercy

Misericordiae Vultus

14. The practice of pilgrimage has a special place in the Holy Year, because it represents the journey each of us makes in this life. Life itself is a pilgrimage, and the human being is a viator, a pilgrim travelling along the road, making his way to the desired destination. Similarly, to reach the Holy Door in Rome or in any other place in the world, everyone, each according to his or her ability, will have to make a pilgrimage. This will be a sign that mercy is also a goal to reach and requires dedication and sacrifice. May pilgrimage be an impetus to conversion: by crossing the threshold of the Holy Door, we will find the strength to embrace God’s mercy and dedicate ourselves to being merciful with others as the Father has been with us. © Saint Luke Institute

9. In the parables devoted to mercy, Jesus reveals the nature of God as that of a Father who never gives up until he has forgiven the wrong and overcome rejection with compassion and mercy. We know these parables well, three in particular: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the father with two sons (cf. Lk 15:1-32). In these parables, God is always presented as full of joy, especially when he pardons. In them we find the core of the Gospel and of our faith, because mercy is presented as a force that overcomes everything, filling the heart with love and bringing consolation through pardon.

The Lost Sheep

hp://temp_thoughts_resize.s3.amazonaws.com/06/c84e20f1d711e3bae069185a42dc78/A-POET-CRYING-LIKE-LOST-SHEEP.jpg © Saint Luke Institute

The Lost Coin

God comes in search of us!

The Father with Two Sons

Misericordiae Vultus

14. Merciful like the Father, therefore, is the “motto” of this Holy Year. In mercy, we find proof of how God loves us. He gives his entire self, always, freely, asking nothing in return. He comes to our aid whenever we call upon him. What a beautiful thing that the Church begins her daily prayer with the words, “O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me” (Ps 70:2)! The assistance we ask for is already the first step of God’s mercy toward us. He comes to assist us in our weakness. And his help consists in helping us accept his presence and closeness to us. Day after day, touched by his compassion, we also can become compassionate towards others. © Saint Luke Institute

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15. The Lord Jesus shows us the steps of the pilgrimage to attain our goal: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Lk 6:37-38).

Copyright Saint Luke Instute 14 To arrive at a place you have never been to before, you need to go through places you have never been to before.

The Holy Doors

Going Through the Holy Doors

Jesus said, “I am the door.” (John 10:7)

The Holy Doors at St. Peter’s Basilica consist of sixteen panels: The top two panels showing the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden after the Fall with an angel guarding the entrance with the fiery sword. The opposite two panels depict the Annunciation with the Archangel Gabriel asking Mary to be the Mother of Jesus.

The next row of four panels depict gospel stories of God’s mercy and forgiveness:

1. The baptism of our Lord. 2. The good shepherd finding of the lost sheep. 3. The prodigal son asking forgiveness from his father. 4. Jesus curing the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven.”

Going Through the Holy Doors

The third row continues with more depictions of mercy: 1. The penitent woman washing the feet of Jesus. 2. St. Peter asking our Lord how many times must a person forgive and our Lord replying, “Seventy times seven.” 3. Peter weeping after he had just denied our Lord three times. 4. The crucifixion, with Jesus saying to the “good thief”, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Going Through the Holy Doors

The bottom row portrays the Resurrection and the birth of the Church:

1. Thomas inspecting the wound marks of Jesus. 2. Jesus appears to the apostles in the upper room, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 3. Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus. 4. A picture of the Holy Father striking the Holy Door: “I stand at the door and knock”.

Copyright Saint Luke Instute 16 All of these scenes remind us of our call as pilgrims to enter the mystery of salvation, passing from sin to grace, from separation to union with God, and from death to eternal life.

Steps of the Pilgrimage

“Judge not, and you will not be judged.”

• Consider how I judge others. • Pray to understand how the Lord does not judge me.

Steps of the Pilgrimage

“Condemn not, and you will not be condemned.”

• Consider how I condemn others. • Pray to understand how the Lord does not condemn me.

“Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

• Who am I unable to forgive? • Pray to experience the fullness of God’s forgiveness.

Steps of the Pilgrimage

“Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

• Give alms. • Pray you can experience the Lord’s abundance and be given the gift of gratitude.

Resources

• Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus: Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, 11 April 2015.

• St. John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia, 30 November 1980.

Rev. David Songy, O.F.M.Cap. [email protected]

Beth Davis, Director of Education [email protected]