June 2018 SPECIAL EDITION November 2015 Issue | Página 2

November 2015

The Jubilee Year of Mercy
Imagine someone showing up at your
doorstep offering to give you a phenomenal gift,
free of charge. Would you accept it? Would you
think, ‘What’s the catch?’ Would you just close
the door and refuse the gift?
From a young age we are taught to be
cautious of strangers, especially those giving
away free gifts. We are programmed to think that
just about everything comes with a catch. There
is at least one gift, however, that is totally free
and is in unlimited supply: God’s Mercy.
What is mercy? How do we get it? How
do we give it? Over the next year, we are going
to hear a lot more about mercy, and hopefully be
able to answer these questions and more.
Pope Francis announced a Holy Year of
Mercy to highlight the Catholic Church’s mission
to be a witness of mercy. The Holy Year will be
celebrated from December 8, 2015 (Feast of the
Immaculate Conception) to November 20, 2016
(Solemnity of Christ the King.)
During this Holy Year there will be many
events at the Vatican and in churches throughout
the world that will help us to get a better
understanding of mercy, and to practice it as
well.
In our own church parish, we will have
several events to celebrate the Year of Mercy.
We will open the Year on December 9th with the
blessing of the Image of the Divine Mercy. The
Image will be prominently displayed in the
church foyer for the entire Year of Mercy.
All year, Wednesdays will be a Day of
Mercy at VOL, which will begin at 5:15 pm and
include Confessions, the Divine Mercy Chaplet,
evening prayer or Mass, and Adult Faith
Formation.
In addition to the Days of Mercy, VOL
will offer a Pilgrimage to the Shrines of New
Orleans. Participants will visit historical Shrines
to learn how God’s mercy has been intertwined
in the history of our city.

The pilgrimage is scheduled for January,
2016, (specific date has not been set), and will
include stops at the Shrines of Our Lady of Prompt
Succor, Blessed Seelos, St. Jude, St. Louis Cathedral,
and St. Mary’s Church (Catholic Cultural Center).
This day-long pilgrimage will include transportation,
lunch, and snacks. (More information will follow as
it becomes available.)
The gift of mercy is one that cannot be
bought at any price, be obtained by any social status,
or stolen from anyone. God gives it to us freely, we
just have to accept it. Open your heart to the
upcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy. Let us prepare
ourselves to receive God’s mercy.
Pope Francis’ Prayer for the
Jubilee Year of Mercy
Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful
like the heavenly Father, and have told us that
whoever sees you sees Him. Show us your face and
we will be saved. Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus
and Matthew from being enslaved by money; the
adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness
only in created things; made Peter weep after his
betrayal, and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the
words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman: “If you
knew the gift of God!” You are the visible face of the
invi sible Father, of the God who manifests his power
above all by forgiveness and mercy: let the Church
be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and
glorified. You willed that your ministers would also be
clothed in weakness in order that they may feel
compassion for those in ignorance and error:
Let everyone who approaches them feel sought after,
loved, and forgiven by God. Send your Spirit and
consecrate every one of us with its anointing, so that
the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the
Lord, and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm,
may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to
captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the
blind. We ask this through the intercession of Mary,
Mother of Mercy, you who live and reign with the
Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.

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