Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
Pope Francis has designated the year ahead as an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. From December 8, 2015 until November 20, 2016, the Pope is asking everyone to make a special effort to show more mercy in our world.
Why mercy? Pope Francis said, “Here, then, is the reason for the Jubilee: because this is the time for mercy. It is 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.”
In order to show mercy, we must first recognize things are not right, relationships are broken, or someone needs some help on getting their lives back on the right track. After that, then we need to have the love in our hearts to want to make things right again, to heal any broken relationships or to be a helping hand to others. It is important we do this out of love and not out of a desire to prove something or to show our dominance over someone else; as Pope Francis says, this is just pride disguised as mercy. Then our love needs to be turned into action. The one act that demonstrates mercy most clearly is the willingness to forgive or to seek forgiveness, whichever is necessary.
We can see in Scripture how this works with God. God recognized his relationship with humanity was broken because of sin. But as we learn in John 3:16, God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus. And Jesus came to give his life for the forgiveness of sins. Love that goes beyond all expectations is one way to look at mercy.
How can we take love beyond all expectations in ways that show mercy? The Church has in its tradition the Spiritual and the Corporal Works of Mercy. This Jubilee Year gives us the opportunity to recommit ourselves to these acts of love, which show mercy toward our fellow human beings:
The Spiritual Works of Mercy
Admonish sinners
Instruct the uninformed
Counsel the doubtful
Comfort the sorrowful
Bear wrongs patiently
Forgive offenses
Pray for the living and the dead
The Corporal Works of Mercy
Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Clothe the naked
Shelter the homeless
Comfort the imprisoned
Visit the sick
Bury the dead
Father Kenneth Taylor is pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church.
