In the Church, we are halfway through our celebration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
When the Holy Father proclaimed the jubilee year, he said, “I have thought about how the Church can make clear its mission of being a witness of mercy. The mercy of God must be at the center. We must ‘feel mercy.’ This word changes everything. It’s the best thing we can feel; it changes the world.”
In writing about the Jubilee Year, an Italian journalist and publisher noted, “If we do not understand that mercy is the heart of the Gospel, we cannot fully understand Jesus Christ or the tenderness of the Father who sends him to listen to us, to heal us and to save us.”
Then there is Trappist Priest Simeon Leiva-Merikakis, speaking bluntly about the immensity of God’s mercy: “Whoever receives mercy must give mercy, or else he will choke on it.”
God gives his mercy so abundantly that we always will have more than enough for ourselves and for everyone we encounter, Fr. Simeon explains.
Like the miraculous loaves, mercy is multiplied in the giving.
Our prayer today:
Peter W. Yaremko, a former journalist, is the owner of Executive Media, Inc. and is a specialist in executive communications. He attends St. Peter the Apostle Church in Provincetown, Massachusetts and blogs at peterwyaremko.com/paradise_diaries.