Preparing for the Year of Mercy

As we begin the Jubilee Year of Mercy on Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we might ask: What does mercy even mean?

A dictionary defines mercy as "compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm."

One of my high school teachers was a little more Catholic in her definition, calling mercy "a step beyond justice."

Our popes go much deeper.

Pope Francis has described mercy as "the Lord's most powerful message," "a very special capacity for forgetting (He forgets, He kisses you, He embraces you and He simply says to you: 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more' (Jn 8:11)," "an invitation to conversation" and God's "patience with us."

Pope Benedict XVI said mercy is " the force of God, as the divine limit against the evil of the world," "the central nucleus of the Gospel message; it is the very name of God, the Face with which he revealed himself in the Old Covenant and fully in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of creative and redemptive Love," and "a source of hope for every person and for the whole world."

St. John Paul II, the "Divine Mercy pope," said mercy is "that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights to the holiness of God."

God's mercy culminates in the cross, the saint said, "the most profound bowing down of the Divinity towards man."

 At the cross, we  see mercy in Christ's face, in His gaze and on His lips as He prays for those who torture and kill Him.

In His wounds, in His Precious Blood and in His tormented body, we see the price Jesus paid to unite us completely to Him as His Mystical Body.

"Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ Himself," St. Augustine said. "Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God's grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ. For if He is the Head, we are the members; He and we together are the whole man."

Together in Christ, we can be mercy for the world. But to be mercy, we must receive it first, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

"Now - and this is daunting - this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love, like the Body of Christ, is indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see. In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the Father's merciful love; but in confessing our sins, our hearts are opened to His grace."

So let us begin the Jubilee Year of Mercy appropriately -- with the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

And with God's grace, we can be His mercy.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.