MISERICORDIA ET MISERA Introduction: One of the post popular jubilee years that were announced by the last several popes, the Jubilee of Mercy caught the imagination of the people. With characteristic practical suggestions and personal examples Pope Francis showed what a person can do to be more God like by being merciful in a world where people are struggling for survival. His visits to jails, hospitals, homes for the poor, refugee camps, tells individuals and nations that they should see the misery of the poor and take steps to alleviate it. He was not lacking in words in advising people and their leaders that their greed for money through trade in weapons and war mongering, indifference and narrow minded and selfish polices, they are taking the lives of millions or causing immense suffering to innocents. They will have to answer God for their behaviour. New Apostolic Letter, MISERICORDIA ET MISERA: The Jubilee Mercy came to an end with the closing of the Door of Mercy on the Feast of Christ the King. The Pope wants that the spirit of mercy should continue to permeate the Church and the world. The immense suffering of individuals and nations calls on all believers to come up with new measures of showing mercy and be like the Father who is never tired of showing mercy. To continue in the same spirit he has come out with an Apostolic Letter named MISERICORDIA ET MISERA or Mercy and Misery at the end of the Jubilee Year. The title is borrowed from the commentary of St. Augustine on Jesus meeting the woman caught in adultery (Jn 8: 1-11). The accusers of the woman were ready to stone her but Jesus intervened and said "Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Her accusers sneak away. There 'Misery meets Mercy' - the woman is left alone with Jesus, who says, 'Neither will I condemn you."This reaction of Jesus helps her to hope for a future and start a new life. Let us Celebrate Mercy: God has been merciful and in the same vein we his children need to have the trait of forgiveness. Pope suggests "None of us have the right to make forgiveness conditional." Forgiveness gives rise to joy. The Apostolic Letter calls us to celebrate mercy and to renew the force of mercy daily which the Pope calls as 'Pastoral Conversion'. We celebrate mercy in the sacraments especially the Eucharist and the Confession. Pope wants the priests to prepare carefully for the ministry of confession. It is an invitation to man to turn back to God and experience his closeness anew. So the priests need to be welcoming and fatherly helping the penitent to walk in the penitential journey. He reminds us that every sin separates us from Guwahati Newsletter Vol 22:3 Page 01 God and some sins are very serious. God limits forgiveness if one intends to commit the same sin even after confession yet he informs the priests that all of them have the power to absolve the sin of abortion if the person is truly sorry. It does not diminish the seriousness of this sin but lets them know God cares for them. Pope hopes that the sacrament of reconciliation regains its central place in Christian life. Mercy is Familial: Family is the privileged place where we have been loved and learned to love, where we have been forgiven and have learned to forgive. It is built upon the sacrament of marriage where one experiences joys and sorrows, struggles and pains but is drawn to the fullness of justice, love, and mercy by the power of the sacrament. Life in the family draws us to God with the assurance of his unending forgiveness and care. Mercy is Social: Pope reiterates in this letter his call to launch new initiatives of practising corporal works of mercy which he had been doing in the Jubilee Year. We have witnessed several new ways of showing mercy but the Pope insists that it is not enough. Our world continues to create new forms of spiritual and material poverty that assault human dignity. It demands that we banish indifference and hypocrisy and build up a new civilization of love. Pope gives the example of unemployment, poor salary, homelessness and discrimination on the basis of one's faith, race and social justice as areas that assault human dignity to which we must respond with human solidarity. The mercy we preach becomes a reality when we take the hands of our brothers and sisters who are waiting for someone to walk with them. It will transform not only their lives but also give us a new heart. Conclusion: Pope St. John Paul II called on the world to promote a 'culture of life' and now Pope Francis calls upon us to promote a 'culture of mercy' that no one looks at another with indifference or turn away from their suffering. He concludes his Apostolic Letter calling on the Church to celebrate the Thirty Third Sunday of the Year, the Sunday before the Feast of Christ the king, as the 'World Day of the poor'. Christ identified himself with the poor and will judge the world on works of mercy. He warns us that there will be no justice if we do not care for the 'Lazarus at our gate.' I wish you all a Happy New Year. May we be more merciful and just in dealing with our brothers and sisters especially those to whom we are most associated! Their joy is God's blessing for us. +John Moolachira Archbishop of Guwahati Page 2 Guwahati Newsletter Vol 22:23 Wish you a happy New Year … As we flip the calendar to a New Year, it gives us some time to reflect on what has passed and to look ahead to the opportunities to come. The New Year with all that it has in store for us, I believe, will open before us newer opportunities. The momentous decisions we have taken at the close of last year have set us on a new direction. Certainly, the learning we had from the experiences of the past enable us to widen our horizon. As the New Year offers a fresh start, it is up to us to decide and choose the direction we want our life to go on in life. Setting motivational goals are important in life. They don't have to be enormous; know what's achievable for us and strive to reach those marks. Let's remember that just because we're not able to reach our goals as fast as we'd like, or we have some setbacks along the way, doesn't mean that they're unattainable. Let's keep plugging along to be the best we can be! Great things seldom happen. They're the product of resolution, strategy and hard work. There's a truth to that. If resolution and relentless efforts blend well with perseverance, success is the sure result. It isn't often just big universal events that define a year, but personal things. 2017 might be the year we begin seriously to live our life or deciding to do things differently. These are life's milestones and they take us to the new heights. The call of Pope Francis to be "merciful like the Father", took the world by storm. Although the year of mercy has ended in November, the message of mercy carries on. If we have been living out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy in 2016, let us not give them up. And if we haven't started living, it's never too late to begin. Living mercifully in our daily lives means witnessing perpetually to the Father's love on earth. Let's strive to be witnesses of Father's love. The turning of the calendar provides for us the impetus for change. Let us then move on to the direction we have set our mind to go and achieve what we have decided to. Happy New Year ! Fr. Jobins Vengathadathil MSFS Guwahati Newsletter Vol 22:3 Page 3 FAITHFUL IN THOUSANDS TAKE PART IN ANNUAL EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION T h e A n n u a l E u c h a r i s t i c Procession of the Archdiocese of Guwahati was held on Sunday 20 November 2016 through the three kilometres or so route along the National Highway where Catholic faithful in thousands from far and near took part chanting prayers and singing hymns as they venerated the Holy Eucharist taken out in portable altar. The faithful who took part in the procession came from the 44 parishes of the Archdiocese of Guwahati. The day started with the solemn Eucharistic celebration presided over by His Grace Most Rev. John Moolachira and several priests from the Archdiocese concelebrated with him. In his homily, the Archbishop said that the Eucharistic procession gives us an opportunity to proclaim our faith and love the Eucharist which is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. He also reminded the faithful to live their faith through exemplary lives and to say no to all that prevent them from living the Christian faith and teaching to its fullness. The history of the Eucharistic procession in the Catholic Church traces its origin to the 13 century when, in 1264, Pope Urban IV, made a feast for the universal Church. Church sources say, this desire was present right from the beginning. But in the year 1200, in Canterbury, England, the Christian community spontaneously came into the streets and walked in an orderly procession, offering prayers and chanting religious hymns.