POPE Francis I announced on March 13, 2015 that the Extraordinary Jubilee of Year of Mercy begins on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, December 8, 2015 and ends on the Feast of Christ the King, November 16, 2016.

Pope Francis opened the Jubilee Year of Mercy on December 8 by opening the Door of Mercy of St Peter’s Basilica. On the third Sunday of Advent, December 13, the Door of Mercy of St John Lateran and St Paul Outside the Wall basilicas and all the cathedrals of the world will be opened.

Fiji doors of mercy

Here in Fiji, Archbishop Peter Chong will open the doors of mercy of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Suva on the eve of the third Sunday of Advent, Saturday December 12. This celebration begins with a procession from Marist Brothers High School ground at 3pm. At 5pm Archbishop Chong will perform the rite of opening the door of mercy of the Sacred Heart Cathedral followed by Holy Mass.

Jubilee in the Bible refers to the 50-year Hebrew tradition that grants emancipation — giving freedom to slaves, restoring land to former owners, and letting the land rest.

This is the first Jubilee Year to celebrate not an anniversary of some kind, but the attribute of God the Father which is most exalted in both the Old and the New Testaments: His Mercy. Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy celebrates the very nature of God — mercy. Pope Francis tell us: “We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it.”

Mercy

Mercy: The word reveals the very mystery of the most Holy Trinity.

Mercy: The ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us.

Mercy: The fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life.

Mercy: The bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.

Biblical intrinsic message

The merciful God is an intrinsic message of the Bible. The Hebrew word hesed is the most important expression for understanding mercy. Hesed means unmerited loving kindness, friendliness, favour and also divine grace and mercy.

Hesed therefore goes beyond mere emotion and grief at human experience. It means God’s free and gracious turning toward the human person with care. It concerns a concept of relationship, which characterises not only a single action, but rather a continuing attitude and posture.

Applied to God, the concept expresses an unexpected and unmerited gift of God’s grace transcending every human relationship of reciprocal fidelity. Mercy expresses God’s concerns for people’s suffering. God sees the wretchedness of the poor and miserable people, hears the lament of the people, bends down in condescension, and descends to persons in their need.

God forgives and gives people a second chance, even if they deserve to be punished. (Kasper 2013: 43)

Early definition

Early theological definition of mercy drew on human experiences. The starting point of mercy is the human compassion for suffering people. Compassion and mercy do not mean the same thing, but both blend into each other, at least in

Latin, which speaks of misericordia.

Misericordia, according to its original literal sense means to have one’s heart with the poor or to have a heart for the poor. It means to have merciful heart.

Misericordia names an attitude that transcends one’s own egotism and one’s own I-centredness and has its heart not with itself, but rather with others, especially the poor and the needy in every kind. (Kasper 2013: 21)

Biblical meaning of mercy does not emerge from the word but rather from whole biblical history of salvation. In the Book of Exodus 3:7-8, God is a God who sees the misery of his people and hears their cries.

“I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt, I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians.”

God is no deaf and dumb God. He is a living God who attends to human misery, who speaks, acts, and intervenes, who liberates and redeems.

Theological understanding

The starting point for a theological understanding mercy is also based on God’s revelation to Moses. God reveals his name in the following Greek translation: “I am the one who is there.”

However the Hebrew translation of “I am” speaks of a dynamic way of being rather than a static presence. The Hebrew “I am” does not mean to merely exist. Rather it means to be present there, with and for others. Hence in Hebrew, God answers: “I am the one who is there for you, who is with you and by you.” God’s name therefore, is both a commitment and a promise to act. (Kasper 2013: 84)

Mercy therefore can be understood as “re-action” love. In fact mercy is an action, or precisely, a re-action to someone else’s suffering; a reaction to a suffering that has come to penetrate one’s own entrails and heart. Furthermore, we can say that mercy is motivated only be suffering. (Sobrino:1992, 16) God is moved by the people’s suffering and plans to liberate them.

In the New Testament, the mercy of God becomes concretised in the life and teachings of Jesus. This is clearly expressed in the words of Jesus: “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd”. Mercy shapes Jesus life and mission and seals his fate.

Basic principle

Mercy is the basic principle of the activity of God and Jesus and therefore ought to be that of the activity of the church and all believers. Mercy reveals the divine pedagogy — the method by which God meets us his people. As people made in the image and likeness of God, we are people who have mercy ingrained in our being. Mercy is the nature of the human person. We are people of mercy.

Like the God of mercy, we hear the cries of our brothers and sisters, we see their suffering, we want to free them from their suffering and slavery.

Fiji is a God-centred nation, hence our belief in the God of mercy and the practice of mercy has the power transform our country because we will not be guided by our interests, or the interests of the few rich and powerful but rather by the needs of the poor and suffering. Mercy will mean a better world for those who live in a world of suffering and hopelessness. Mercy has the power to change our world.