The Jubilee of the Missionaries of Mercy recognises those who work to spread mercy throughout the world.
PRAYER
In the name of Jesus Christ crucified and risen, in the spirit of His messianic mission, enduring in the history of humanity, we raise our voices and pray that the Love which is in the Father may once again be revealed at this stage of history, and that, through the work of the Son and Holy Spirit, it may be shown to be present in our modern world and to be more powerful than evil: more powerful than sin and death. We pray for this through the intercession of [Mary] who does not cease to proclaim “mercy…from generation to generation,” and also through the intercession of those for whom there have been completely fulfilled the words of the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
(From Dives in Misericordia, n. 15.)
TEACHING
From Misericordiae Vultus – Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (2015):
In 2015, when establishing the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis determined to send out ‘Missionaries of Mercy’, whom he described as “living signs of the Father’s readiness to welcome those in search of his pardon”.
“18. They will be missionaries of mercy because they will be facilitators of a truly human encounter, a source of liberation, rich with responsibility for overcoming obstacles and taking up the new life of Baptism again.”
While these designated Missionaries of Mercy were ordained priests tasked with preaching on mercy and facilitating increased opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Pope Francis also encouraged the laity to show mercy towards everyone they come in contact with.
“9. We are called to show mercy because mercy has first been shown to us. Pardoning offences becomes the clearest expression of merciful love, and for us Christians it is an imperative from which we cannot excuse ourselves.
“The mercy of God is his loving concern for each one of us. He feels responsible; that is, he desires our wellbeing and he wants to see us happy, full of joy, and peaceful. This is the path which the merciful love of Christians must also travel. As the Father loves, so do his children. Just as he is merciful, so we are called to be merciful to each other.”
From Pope John Paul II’s Dives in Misericordia (1980):
“VII. The Church must bear witness to the mercy of God revealed in Christ, in the whole of His mission as Messiah, professing it in the first place as a salvific truth of faith and as necessary for a life in harmony with faith, and then seeking to introduce it and to make it incarnate in the lives both of her faithful and as far as possible in the lives of all people of good will.
“14. Christ crucified is for us the loftiest model, inspiration and encouragement. When we base ourselves on this disquieting model, we are able with all humility to show mercy to others, knowing that Christ accepts it as if it were shown to Himself. On the basis of this model, we must also continually purify all our actions and all our intentions in which mercy is understood and practiced in a unilateral way, as a good done to others. An act of merciful love is only really such when we are deeply convinced at the moment that we perform it that we are at the same time receiving mercy from the people who are accepting it from us. If this bilateral and reciprocal quality is absent, our actions are not yet true acts of mercy, nor has there yet been fully completed in us that conversion to which Christ has shown us the way by His words and example, even to the cross, nor are we yet sharing fully in the magnificent source of merciful love that has been revealed to us by Him.”
TESTIMONY
“The diocese decided that during the Jubilee of Mercy I would visit parish communities where there was a church but no resident priest.
“The daily experience of sitting in the church, what Pope Francis calls ‘the apostolate of the ear’, was a profound, humbling and privileged one. Whenever I arrived in a community I promised parishioners that I would sit in the church ready to listen with a merciful gaze, open arms, and a welcoming non-judgemental heart to any story of pain, sorrow, disappointment, or heaviness of spirit which they brought to me. My hope was that in such a conversation they would experience something of God’s closeness to them and God’s forgiving acceptance of them.
“What a privilege it was to be given this mission. I felt a strong sense of connection with Francis, the Bishop of Rome and my brother Jesuit, as I supported him in his desires for this Jubilee Year of Mercy. It felt so humbling to be entrusted with the untold stories of so many parishioners and to be a witness to what happened as they told me their stories.”
– Fr Richard Shortall SJ (From Australian Jesuits).
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
For the Church, may she never tire of extending mercy, and be ever patient in offering compassion and comfort.
We pray to the Lord.
For priests, who are a conduit to the mercy of God through the Sacrament of Penance, that they may continue to reflect the Lord’s boundless mercy and loving tenderness.
We pray to the Lord.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Misericordiae Vultus – Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (April 4, 2015) Dives in Misericordia (November 13, 1980)
Apostolic Letter Misericordia et misera, Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (November 20, 2016)
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