"The Year of Mercy is inaugurated not in Vatican City,
but in one of the poorest and most war-torn countries in the world."
From Fr. James Martin S.J.
Honestly, this is just amazing to me, and amazingly moving. The Holy Door is not at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but at the Cathedral in Bangui, in the Central African Republic. The Year of Mercy is inaugurated not in Vatican City, but in one of the poorest and most war-torn countries in the world. The Prince of Peace comes not to the wealthy but to a poor family in Nazareth. Jesus goes first not to the powerful but to the powerless. God is a God of surprises--always going beyond our boundaries and always inviting us to the margins. Amen. - Fr. Martin's Facebook page
Amen, Father Martin, amen!
ReplyDeleteThe joy of the faithful is beautiful to behold much like the joy that must have radiated that night in Bethlehem long ago.
Were we all so worthy of such pure joy!
Thank you Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
I pray the Holy Father gets home safe and sound. What a man!
DeleteIt's cool to see how much Fr. Martin loves him and supports him - I find that encouraging.
Little sons of the great San Ignacio de Loyola united in Christ Jesus.
DeleteI trust many of our prayers and hopes are placed at the Virgencita's feet by San Ignacio so that she protects Papa as he goes about proclaiming the Good News.
All of her little ones will benefit from such prayers as she spreads her holy mantle over them as well.
If he'd paid attention, Fr. Martin wouldn't have been surprised.
ReplyDelete.....I love Pope Francis. I am so happy....
ReplyDeleteThe God of surprises? Oh please.
ReplyDeleteMaria - you and I need it more than anyone - well maybe not you - but I sure do.
DeleteI recalled Chesterton in "The Man Who Was Thursday" so I looked it up.
DeleteMy Symes: "The rare, strange thing is to hit the mark; the gross, obvious thing is to miss it...Chaos is dull; because in chaos the train might indeed go anywhere, to Baker Street or to Bagdad. But man is a magician, and his whole magic is in this, that he does say Victoria, and lo! it is Victoria..."
Fr James Martin is a salesman.
I'm very fond of Fr. Martin - he's never asked me to buy anything and never asked me for donations. LOL! I like Jesuits very much - I've only met two crazy ones - but they both gave me absolution in the sacrament of penance. Otherwise - all the rest were very solid - even if they dabbled in weird ideas.
DeleteI think I did a post once on Chesterton saying I thought he was over-rated. ;)
"Honestly, this was just amazing to me". Was it, really? He's a bit smarmy for me. Each to their own.
DeleteA Jesuit was the only priest who gave me absolution in latin. Was an old bloke and I got him on the hop, so it was likely the only form he remembered. It was great.
What is it that we need, Terry?
ReplyDeleteMercy - which is why I am so happy the Holy Year is opened.
DeleteThe God of surprises is a tiresome hackneyed phrase and code for we will do it our way thanks ever so much...
ReplyDeleteYea for mercy...i think the Catholic church has been in the mercy biz now for several thousand years...It seems only recently that the Bishopric and the Bishop of Rome have discovered that our Holy Mother is a sadist. It seems a rather presumptuous and utterly preposterous claim to make--for anyone--never mind the Pope. It strains the imagination as to how the Holy Father has arrived at this absurd conclusion.
Question: Where is all the mercy at Jesuit universities that have robbed now multiple generations of the faith? Never a word from the Holy Father about the chess pool of immorality that pervades every Jesuit university. Interesting, huh?
You know the extraordinary nature of a Jubilee Year, don't you. Another blogger who should understand it well wrote that it would be like setting aside a year to love his wife. I think many people are missing the point about a Jubilee Year.
DeleteYou sound so angry Maria - and you've commented here for years, and the anger seems unabated.
As for mercy and showing mercy, I like to recall St. Faustina's revelations and JPII's devotion and promotion of the devotion, establishing the feast day and so on. I know I need mercy. The fact that Pope Francis has designated a Jubilee Year of Mercy, makes the Jubilee Year, all the more extraordinary and wonderful. Jubilee Years are all about mercy and forgiveness anyway.
I hope you and others wouldn't reject such an invitation.
And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
ReplyDelete