Learn about Mercy
Breathe In, Breathe Out
The Year of Mercy is like a breath. Notice your breath; when we breathe in, the first second of air flow is small, but it gives way to a larger flow of air that fills our lungs. In the same way, the first month felt like the first second of breathing in. We started with elementary facts, “What is a Jubilee?” and “What is a Holy Door?”, and through those things God immediately drew us in to the greatness of His Mercy, immersing us in beauty and truth like a large volume of fresh air. And just like a breath, we have to breathe out. Breathing out carries with it a sense of release, of surrendering, and even of dying. A Catholic author remarks: “Turning to Christ, by definition, means dying to self. This death to self means coming to a place where the disciple wants only what Christ wants and the old self-will does not exist any longer.” At the end of the Year of Mercy, we are called to want only what Christ wants, after recognizing that He is the source of all that we could ever need and want.
Mercy in Action
Pope Francis said in "BULL OF INDICTION OF THE EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF MERCY"
It is my burning desire that, during this Jubilee, the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. It will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty. And let us enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy. Jesus introduces us to these works of mercy in his preaching so that we can know whether or not we are living as his disciples.
Let us rediscover these corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead.
And let us not forget the spiritual works of mercy: to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear patiently those who do us ill, and pray for the living and the dead. (Bull of Indiction 15)