Repentance Walks but Mercy Runs: Pope of Mercy Invokes a Year of Mercy

Francis is a Pope of Mercy. In his words and life witness he makes mercy real to a world desperately in need of experiencing its liberating effect.

On Saturday 11 April, on the eve of what is celebrated as Mercy Sunday in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis will officially convoke an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.
He will release what is called a Bull of Indiction. Such a Papal Bull is a solemn declaration issued by Popes. It indicates their deep conviction on matters which they feel are of extraordinary importance for the Church and the world.It is entitled, in Latin, Misericordiae vultus. In English that means The Face of Mercy. Francis is an evangelical Catholic Pope. At the foundation of his call to us to live - as well as to proclaim - the whole Gospel, is his own passionate commitment to make known the Mercy of God by demonstrating it in his prophetic actions. That is why this Papal Bull points us to the spirit of this Papacy and needs to receive our full attention. The Face of Mercy is the face of Jesus.

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - On Saturday 11 April, on the eve of what is celebrated as Mercy Sunday in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis will officially convoke an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

He will release what is called a Bull of Indiction. Such a Papal Bull is a solemn declaration issued by Popes. It indicates their deep conviction on matters which they feel are of extraordinary importance for the Church and the world.It is entitled, in Latin, Misericordiae vultus. In English that means The Face of Mercy.

Pope Francis is wholeheartedly committed to sharing the Good news of God's loving plan of salvation in Jesus Christ, to the whole world. 

He is leading us into a new missionary age. He reminds us that we are called to go to the peripheries. He challenges us to leave our comfort zones - and bring the saving and healing message of the Gospel to all.

He has used images, such as the image of the Church as a field hospital for the wounded, to remind us that the Gospel message of forgiveness, mercy and new life is intended for all men and women. In the Church, the Body of Christ, all men and women can be healed and made new. (2 Cor. 5:17)

Then, they too are enlisted in Gods loving plan of salvation for the whole human race.

Francis is an evangelical Catholic Pope. At the foundation of his call to us to live - as well as to proclaim - the whole Gospel, is his own passionate commitment to make known the Mercy of God by demonstrating it in his prophetic actions.

That is why this Papal Bull points us to the spirit of this Papacy and needs to receive our full attention. The Face of Mercy is the face of Jesus.

The Apostle Paul told the Christians in Corinth: "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6)

This Glory of God is revealed in His Mercy. The Face of Jesus needs to be revealed to the men and women of this age.

While we await what will certainly be an inspiring reflection on the face of Mercy, in which will call all of us to live Mercy as an integrated way of life, we can find some indications of the content of his message by considering a message he shared in September of 2013. 

Speaking to a crowd of 70,000 people who had gathered in St. Peters Square for the praying of the Angelus and his reflections on the Gospel, Pope Francis offered some insights on the three parables in the 15th chapter of St. Luke's Gospel.

He spoke of Mercy as an expression of God's love. He told us that this kind of mercy is our mandate, if we are truly sincere about living the the Christian Way of Life in this present age.

He explained that mercy is, "the true force that can save man and the world from the 'cancer' of sin, of moral and spiritual evil."

The three parables were summarized by Francis as "the lost sheep, the lost coin, and then the longest of all the parables, which is typical of Luke, the father and his two sons, the ' prodigal ' son and the self-righteous son who thinks he is holy."

He spoke of a joyful God, noting "all three parables speak of God's joy. God is joyful! That is something interesting. What is God's joy? Forgiveness. God's joy is forgiveness!

"It is the joy of the shepherd who finds his sheep; the joy of the woman who finds her coin; it is the joy of the father who welcomes home a son who was lost, who was as good as dead, but is alive again, back home. This is the whole Gospel. This is the whole of Christianity!"

"Yet, there is nothing sentimental about it, nor a sense of 'doing good'! On the contrary, mercy is the true force that can save man and the world from the 'cancer' of sin, of moral and spiritual evil. Only love fills the emptiness, the negative chasms that evil opens in hearts and history. Only love can do this and this is God's joy."

"Jesus is all mercy, all love. He is God made man. Everyone here is the lost sheep, the lost coin, and each of us is the son who has wasted his freedom following false idols, the illusions of happiness, and lost everything. He is a patient father. He respects our freedom, but remains loyal".

"And when we return to Him, he welcomes us as children, into his house, because he never stops, not even for a moment, to wait for us, with love. And his heart celebrates every child who comes back. He celebrates because it is joy. He celebrates when one of us sinners comes back."

"What is the danger? To think that we are just; that we can judge others; that we can judge God because we think he should punish sinners; condemn them to death, instead of forgiving them. That is when we risk remaining outside of our Father's house! "

"Like the older brother in the parable, who instead of being happy because his brother was back, got angry with his father who welcomes him and celebrates. If, in our hearts there is no mercy, no joy of forgiveness, we are not in communion with God, even if we observe all of his precepts because it is love that saves, not only the practice of the precepts. Love for God and one's neighbor fulfils all the commandments. This is his joy: forgiveness."

He contrasted the limitations of a merely human notion of justice with the Mercy which reveals Gods justice and insisted that "only God's justice can save us! And God's justice revealed itself on the Cross. The Cross is God's judgment on all of us and on this world. But how does God judge us? By giving his life for us.

Behold the supreme act of justice that defeated once and for all the Prince of this world. This supreme act of justice is also one of mercy. Jesus called us all to follow this path. "Be merciful," he said, "just as [. . .] your Father is merciful"(Lk, 6:36).

He called us to participate in God's mercy by becoming mercy to others. "Now I ask you one thing. Let each one of you think about a person with whom you do not get along, with whom you are angry. In silence, think about this person, pray for this person and let yourself become merciful towards this person."

Francis is a Pope of Mercy. In his words and his life witness he makes mercy real to a world desperately in need of experiencing its liberating effect.

He cautioned us that "if we live according to the law of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth', we cannot come out of the spiral of evil. The Evil One is smart. He dupes us into thinking that human justice can save us and save the world. In fact, only God's justice can save us! And God's justice revealed itself on the Cross."

Finally, he offered this probing insight, "If, in our hearts, there is no mercy, no joy of forgiveness, we are not in communion with God, even if we observe all his precepts because it is love that saves, not only the practice of his precepts."

May we respond to the invitation of this Jubilee Year of Mercy and really become a people who live mercifully.

Take the time to read this papal pronouncement instituting the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Ask the Lord of Mercy to give you His grace to live a life of Mercy. 

By the grace of God - and the power of the same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead - we can choose to become a people of mercy. We can embrace Gods loving and merciful plan for an age which is wounded and lost and put legs on it.

Let us shine the light of the Gospel and help illuminate the way home to a Father who runs to meet every man, woman and child.

One of the parables to which Francis referred is the story of the prodigal son. While the wayward son chose to repent and return to the house of the Father, it was the Father who showed us the Face of mercy. The Father is the one in the parable who reveals, as the Apostle Paul writes, "the God of love who is rich in mercy".  (Eph 2:4)

The parable tells us "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Luke 15:21)

Wow! Repentance walks, but mercy runs.

Jesus tells us "Blessed are the merciful". (Matt 5:7) May His Face of Mercy be revealed through us to a world waiting to be born again and welcomed home. A Pope of Mercy has invoked a year of mercy for good reason. 

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Deacon Keith A. Fournier is Founder and Chairman of Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance. A married Roman Catholic Deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, he and his wife Laurine have five grown children and seven grandchildren. He is a human rights lawyer and public policy advocate who served as the first and founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice in the nineteen nineties and has long been active at the intersection of faith and culture. He serves as Special Counsel to Liberty Counsel. He is a senior contributing writer to The Stream.

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