Yesterday marked the start of the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Francis on March 13^th to begin on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception which, fifty years ago, was also the closing date of the Second Vatican Council.

 The Year will end on November 20^th, 2016 , the day celebrated next year as the feast of Christ the King. Announcing the closing date, the pope added a new term to the title of Christ celebrated that day, calling Jesus "the living face of the mercy of the father."

 Mercy has been a virtue we have seen ignored so many times since that announcement in March. At one extreme have been the numerous terrorist atrocities, supposedly carried out in the name of a loving God, to the other edge, where in our small everyday events, we have lacked mercy in our treatment of others. A wide spectrum indeed but one in which Mercy should be at home.

 Jubilee is about forgiveness, a celebration to make things right again, to repair what is broken, to restore our relationship with the living God.

 Only a few days ago, Francis was in Africa and for the first time a pope visited a war zone, the Central African Republic . There he went to the Koudoukou mosque and with the Imam, prayed for peace. Essentially a sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians, he showed by his example that to work for peace is not a simple matter,

 “Peace is not a document that is signed and then put up some place. Peace is made each day. Peace is a craft, a handiwork.”

 One powerful symbol of the start of the Holy Year of Jubilee, is the opening of a door, the way in, where crossing the threshold from the street, access is made to share in the hospitality of the house. To shut a door in someone’s face is an unfriendly, hostile action that makes very clear our intention of not wishing to talk or listen.

 Learning to open doors should be a gift of our faith. Opening doors to those whom we trust is easy enough. In fact with some, friendship is such that the door is already unlocked and they have access without permission.

 But to show mercy to others and to have mercy shown to us demands much more.

 A fine song of the American singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is called simply ‘Jubilee’. It is taken from her 1994 album “Stones in the Road” Here are two of the verses.

   “And I can tell by the way you're talking
That the past isn't letting you go
But there's only so long you can take it all on
And then the wrong's gotta be on its own

And when you're ready to leave it behind you
You'll look back, and all that you'll see
Is the wreckage and rust that you left in the dust
On your way to the jubilee.”

 The complete song can be found at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntliBb6otSg

after the advert that is…..well worth a visit.

 The ‘letting go’, ‘leaving behind’, the ‘rust left in the dust’ , all phrases that in a few simple words offer an insight to our Christian life and show the need to walk through an already opened door.

 END

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