By Marco Ceccarelli
“Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.”
These words, found in Pope Francis’ Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, have often been quoted by Perth Archbishop, Timothy Costelloe SDB since the Year of Mercy was inaugurated in our Archdiocese on 8 December 2015.
The Archbishop has been carefully unpacking the meaning of this phrase in his various homilies, emphasising that in this Year of Mercy the Pope is inviting us to search for mercy in the eyes of Christ and, in turn, to be the face of the Father’s mercy to each other.
How can this be possible? During a vigil Mass celebrated on 12 December 2015 for the Opening of the Cathedral’s Jubilee Holy Door of Mercy, the Archbishop explained that when we plead for the Lord’s mercy, what we are essentially saying is that, in and of ourselves, we have no merits to plead our cause.
“In the end, all we can do is come to the Lord in honesty, sorrow and hope, throwing ourselves on his mercy. We cannot demand that we be forgiven, or rewarded, or exalted or restored: we can only come, as the poor man did who sat at the back of the Temple, praying ‘Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner,’” the Archbishop said.
The concept of “demanding forgiveness,” the Archbishop went on to explain, is linked to the temptation that we as Christians believe, or act as if, we can “win” our salvation through our own efforts. What we should be instead searching for, he said, is a relationship with Christ in which we begin see, hear and speak as He does.
“There has been a great temptation in many strands of Christianity to believe that we can win our salvation through our own efforts: that we can somehow deserve to be saved.
“If we say enough prayers, or do enough penance, or give enough money to the poor, then God will have no choice but to reward us. But this is not true…it is not our good deeds which will save us: rather it is our faith in Jesus, our constant entrusting our lives to him, which will save us.”
More poignantly, the Archbishop went to the heart of Pope’s message in this Year of Mercy, offering at the same time a key to understand how the Father’s mercy may be visible in us.
“God looks on us with love, not condemnation; with compassion, not with harsh judgement; with mercy, not with exacting legalism.” For this reason, despite us being a broken people, the Archbishop stressed that God goes beyond the surface of our sins to search within our hearts for a seed of desire to love him.
“The seed of desire is enough, the honest acceptance of our need is sufficient, for God’s mercy to begin to flow in us and transform us,” the Archbishop said.
As a way of helping us on this journey of discovering a Jesus who is the face of the Father’s Mercy, a number of Holy Doors have been opened throughout the Archdiocese within designated pilgrimage churches.
These will remain open until the closing of the Year of Mercy on 20 November 2016. The Archbishop has invited all Catholics to enter through the Holy Door of St Mary’s Cathedral or of other specially designated churches in the archdiocese.”
The designated Pilgrimage churches and shrines for the Archdiocese of Perth are:
- St Mary’s Cathedral, 17 Victoria Square, Perth
- St Patrick’s Basilica, 47 Adelaide Street, Fremantle
- Holy Trinity Abbey, Great Eastern Highway, New Norcia
- St Mary’s Church, Brookman Street and Porter Street, Kalgoorlie
- Our Lady of the Mission, 270 Camberwarra Drive, Craigie
- Carmelite Monastery, Elizabeth Street and Thomas Street, Nedlands
- Schoenstatt Shrine, 9 Talus Drive, Mt Richon
- Redemptorist Monastery, 190 Vincent Street, North Perth.
In order to obtain the “Jubilee Indulgence” for the Year of Mercy, the faithful are encouraged to observe the following conditions: pilgrimage to the Holy Door, Sacrament of Reconciliation, celebration of the Eucharist which includes the profession of Faith, prayers for the Holy Father, prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father and reflection on Mercy.
From page 8 and 9 from Issue 1: ‘The Year of Mercy: Seeking an Encounter with Christ’ of The Record Magazine