Symbolically calling on the entire global Roman Catholic church to take up his papacy's central message of compassion and pardon, Pope Francis announced that he is convoking a jubilee year to be called the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Pope Francis announced that the Jubilee Year of Mercy would begin on this year's Feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated December 8, 2015. It will close on November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King. During this year, we are encouraged to forgive others, and allow others to forgive us. During this year, we remember there is individual sin and social sin, and we must pay attention to both. In this year of mercy, we are reminded that charity and justice are not the same thing. Charity is an occasional offering, Justice implies consistent stewardship. During this year, we remember God’s continual expression of mercy to us, especially through the gift of the Holy Mass. During this year we reflect on the Corporal Works of Mercy: Feed the Hungry and Thirsty, Clothe the Naked, Shelter the Homeless, Care for the Sick, Visit the Imprisoned, Bury the Dead. During this year, we reflect on the Spiritual Works of Mercy: Convert Sinners, Instruct the Ignorant, Advise the Doubtful, Comfort the Sorrowful, Bear Wrongs Patiently, Forgive Injuries, Pray for the Living and the Dead. The Year of Mercy indeed can be a great source of inspiration if we are willing to ‘open the door’ of our soul to its grace.

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LATEST VIDEO - MERCY MOMENTS - Juanita Martha Ramirez

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WEEKLY ARTICLES AND ONE WORD AT THE TIME

Jubilee Year of Mercy - November 20, 2016
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe – Jubilee Year Ends

Today Luke, evangelist and by tradition artist, sends us forth from this Jubilee Year of Mercy with an unforgettable portrait of Christ the King. The setting for Jesus’ “royal portrait” is the cross. From this “throne,” the crucified “crown prince” welcomes by “executive pardon” the kingdom of mercy’s first citizen, a fellow criminal. The “Good Thief” requests neither deliverance nor salvation, or even forgiveness: “Remember me when . . .” (Luke 23:42). “Today you will be with me,” King Jesus promises, “in paradise.” (23:43). Paradise, even for non-believers, is an image of creation contentedly in harmony with self, fellow creatures, and Creator. Today, we “good thieves” beg Jesus to remember us. We promise to remember that, although Jesus’ kingdom will be fulfilled only when Jesus’ returns, that kingdom begins today in the paradise that will flower from this Jubilee Year of Mercy. We disciples, having been embraced unconditionally and undeservedly by Jesus’ mercy, must now go forth to embrace all others, unconditionally, with that same unfailing mercy.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - November 13, 2016 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
As this Jubilee Year of Mercy comes to an end, Jesus’ first disciples ask what every age seems to wonder about the end of the world: “Teacher, when will this happen? What sign will there be?” (Luke 21:7). But instead of what we’d like to know, Jesus tells us what we need to know. Don’t be terrified by natural disasters, human violence, personal sufferings. Because God’s mercy abounds, all is grace. “It will lead to your giving testimony” (21:13). So Malachi promises “the sun of justice with its healing rays” (Malachi 3:20a); and Jesus describes how we should welcome the end: “Stand erect and raise your heads, because your redemption is at hand” (Gospel Acclamation, Luke 21:28). Rather than worrying about ourselves and the future’s perils, both Jesus’ gospel and Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy bid us go forth to spend our lives proclaiming God’s promise of boundless mercy, but also translating God’s mercy into living deeds of unfailing compassion and enduring comfort.
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - November 6, 2016
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Jubilee for Prisoners

One of the most moving images of Pope Francis’ ministry comes from Holy Thursday. Slowly, deliberately, Francis kneels down before prisoners – men, women, young, old, Christian, Muslim – and washes their feet, recalling Jesus admonition to Peter: “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). On today’s Jubilee for Prisoners, whose rights the Church bids us advocate, Jesus declares in the Gospel, “to [God] all are alive” (Luke 20:38). Have we “imprisoned” anyone figuratively, but no less painfully, passing harsh judgment, then refusing our respect, acceptance, even affection? This month of All Saints and All Souls bids us reflect on our eternal destiny and prepare for it. Respect for ourselves and others, souls and bodies, practical care for neighbors and strangers: such witness affirms that we view our present in light of our future, and believe that, even now, in our midst, stands the Lord of life, the living Jesus.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - October 30, 2016 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Sunday’s Gospel gave us a tax collector’s beautiful prayer to take with us from this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Today, another tax collector’s encounter with Jesus offers a comforting memory to cherish, but also a challenging mission to embrace. Zacchaeus’ short stature (see Luke 19:3) matched how contemptible, socially and spiritually, Zacchaeus’ religious acquaintances considered tax collectors to be. Jesus counters that judgment with mercy. Radical sin meets unmerited grace. God seeks and finds the lost; a sinner’s home becomes salvation’s house. The sinner “quickly” welcomes salvation “with joy” (19:6), while the righteous grumble judgmentally at God’s mercy. Mercy challenges us, too. Like Zacchaeus, we have been sought and found by Jesus, called by name to welcome Jesus into our heart’s home. Therefore, we must go forth from this Jubilee Year of Mercy as “missionaries of mercy,” seeking our fellow sinners with Jesus, receiving them with joy (see 19:6) as cherished brothers and sisters, and joyfully offering our judgment-free hospitality as Jesus’ own “Welcome home!”
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - October 23, 2016 - Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel graces us with a beautiful prayer that can make every day of our lives a jubilee of mercy: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Religious Israelites despised the tax collector who prayed it, for collaborating with Gentile occupiers and handling currency that bore the “divine” emperor’s graven image. But the Pharisee’s long-winded self-congratulation, mixed with selfrighteous condemnation, was no “prayer” at all. “The Pharisee… spoke this prayer to himself” (18:11, emphasis added). Praying the tax collector’s simple, sincere, succinct cry for mercy acknowledges our own sinfulness, and “welcomes” other sinners as brothers and sisters with whom we can identify, even empathize, echoing Pope Francis’ famous comment about not being the one to judge. Indeed, the tax collector “went home justified” (18:14), that is, restored to God’s friendship, for God’s mercy is not prize achieved but gift received. “Let your prayer be brief: for tax collector, prodigal son, and dying thief were all reconciled to God by a single phrase!” (Saint John Climacus, 7th century).
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - October 16, 2016 - Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Though Jesus told today’s parable more than two thousand years ago, human nature hasn’t changed: we recognize both characters instantly. The merciless judge represents the corruption that has short circuited justice throughout history; the distraught widow, society’s perennially powerless, marginalized to what Pope Francis calls the “peripheries” by those who wield power but lack the mercy that could transfigure society with compassion. To confront such reality, Jesus bids us, “pray always without becoming weary” (Luke 18:1). Prayer opens our eyes to see others from Jesus’ perspective, and leads us to work for justice by coming to the aid of others with what Pope Francis extols as a higher standard, mercy. Thus, when Jesus asks, “Will not God secure the rights of [God’s] chosen ones? Will [God] be slow to answer?” (18:7). We respond by making God’s liberating work for others our own. “[W]hen the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (18:8). Yes, we respond – and mercy!
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - October 9, 2016
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Jubilee of Marian Devotion

This weekend, the Jubilee honors Mary under the title Pope Francis suggests, “Mother of Mercy.” Recall the Good Samaritan Gospel. Priest and Levite saw suffering but showed no mercy. Recall the rich man, who never saw Lazarus right before his eyes, and showed no mercy. Today, Jesus sees ten lepers from afar and shows extraordinary mercy. Mary’s entire life, declares Francis, was modeled on Jesus, “Mercy-Made-Flesh.” Indeed, standing at the cross, Mary saw Jesus’ mercy take flesh when Jesus showed mercy to the executioners. So Pope Francis recommends we frequently pray the Salve Regina, Hail, Holy Queen, asking her to ever look upon us with mercy, so that we might be worthy to gaze upon the face of her merciful Son Jesus. May we do so not only in eternity, but here and now, opening our eyes to see Jesus in others, and our hearts to serve Jesus in others by loving deeds of unconditional mercy.
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - October 2, 2016
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Jubilee of Marian Devotion begins next Saturday

“How long, O LORD?” (Habakkuk 1:2). With Habakkuk’s question echoing across twenty-six hundred years, Respect Life Sunday finds all life claiming sanctuary in our hearts: unborn infant, senior citizen, immigrant and refugee, imprisoned and addicted, people burdened with illness and disabilities of body, mind, or spirit. Even Mother Earth, Pope Francis notes in Laudato Si’, bears scars of disrespect for the life she nurtures and sustains. Life is still threatened, as in Habakkuk’s day, with ruin and misery, “destruction and violence,... strife and clamorous discord” (see 1:3). Since our efforts so often seem ineffective, we “unprofitable servants” cry with the apostles, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:10, 5). But Jesus’ reply might be paraphrased, “Not quantity – quality.” Next weekend marks the Jubilee Year of Mercy’s special devotion to Mary, whose willingness to shelter Jesus in her womb and stand at the foot of his cross bears witness to the qualities that Jesus expects our faith to manifest: the willingness to trust, to risk, and to dare to speak up for life.
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - September 25, 2016
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Jubilee for Catechists

Amos castigates religious people who, “comfortably complacent” (6:1, 5), ignore the unfolding collapse of culture, nation, religion (6:6). In Jesus’ parable, such complacency becomes the rich man’s undoing. He neither hurt nor harmed Lazarus, neither denied him leftovers nor ordered him removed. That is Jesus’ devastating point. The rich man did nothing wrong to Lazarus; he just did nothing at all good for him. Only in death, separated by “a great chasm” (Luke 16:26), could the rich man finally see Lazarus, whom he had failed to see in life, right before his eyes. Like the rich man’s “five brothers still in my father’s house” (16:27–28), we who are alive in the Church still have time to see that same Someone, Jesus, lying neglected right at our door – and time to do something. Who, specifically, concretely, practically, is Lazarus in my life? What can I do for that Jesus-in-the-flesh during this Jubilee Year of Mercy?
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - September 18, 2016 - Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mercy is one thing, malpractice quite another. Why, then, does the defrauded master in Jesus’ parable praise the devious steward? Jesus shows by example how to sanctify material goods: by placing all our resources, indeed our very selves, at the service of others. No matter how costly such service, or how minimal the return, such charity is the wisest investment, yielding a reward that is literally out of this world. For Amos and Jesus, authentic worship of God demands practical charity toward our neighbor. Paul, too, declares that the only worship acceptable to God is offered by a community rich in charity. Liturgy must be matched to life, “lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument” (1 Timothy 2:8). This Jubilee Year of Mercy challenges us to live as “children of light,” as devoted to self-sacrificing service as “the children of this world” (Luke 16:8) are to serving themselves, as enthusiastic for God’s kingdom of justice as we are about less-enduring treasures.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - September 11, 2016 - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
When religious people complained that Jesus welcomed and ate with sinners, Jesus challenged them to change their image of God. Imagine God as a shepherd, abandoning ninety-nine obedient sheep to seek the stupid one who got lost. Imagine God as a distraught woman (could religious men imagine that?), losing something and turning the house upside down to find it. Imagine God as an unconditionally forgiving father granting an unworthy son an undeserved feast. Then Jesus added a character whom religious people might imagine, even recognize, all too well. The elder son stayed home; obeyed the father’s will; then exploded with rage and judgment and refused to join his brother’s welcome-home feast. This Jubilee Year of Mercy asks, which half of Jesus’ audience do I belong to? How do I imagine God? How can I become like the searching shepherd, the sweeping woman, the forgiving father? How else can I expect a welcome to Jesus’ feast of forgiveness?
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - September 4, 2016 - Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
“If anyone comes to me without hating… father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his [or her] own life” (Luke 14:26). Hating? Can anyone imagine a less appropriate Gospel for the Jubilee Year of Mercy? But scholars call this Semitic hyperbole. Jesus exaggerates to jolt us into confronting life-changing challenges. Faced with conflicting loyalties, disciples must reorder priorities, even relationships, to give Jesus and the gospel’s demands first place. Today’s second reading presents a real-life example. Paul challenges his wealthy convert, Philemon, to welcome back Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus, whom Paul has baptized in prison. Not only with unconditional forgiveness but with a counter-cultural, world-shattering change of status – as an equal. No, even more – a beloved brother in Christ. What in my life does the Jubilee Year of Mercy challenge me to “hate” – meaning reform, redo, even utterly revamp – so I can give everyone, no conditions, no exceptions, shockingly Christ-like love?
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - August 28, 2016 - Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Alms atone for sins” (Sirach 2:29). Alms are mercy translated into hands-on compassion. Jesus confirms Sirach’s wisdom, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). “Conduct your affairs with humility” (Sirach 3:17). Humility: we’re all alike and special, for we’re children of God. Jesus confirms that wisdom, too: “Do not recline at table in the place of honor. Take the lowest place” (Luke 14:8, 10). In fact, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite friends, relatives, wealthy neighbors. Invite the poor, crippled, lame, blind,” physically or figuratively, society’s most vulnerable and marginalized, “who cannot repay you” (see 14:12–14). Jesus seems to be telling us to prepare for eternity with God’s chosen by becoming their friend here and now. Mercy is measured not by our delight in welcoming those we like most or who can repay us best, but by sincerely embracing those we like least, who cannot repay us at all. Utter humility inspires pure mercy; pure mercy leads to eternal joy.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - August 21, 2016 - Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Jubilee Year of Mercy and Pope Francis’ ministry have renewed our understanding that the Church’s heart is open wide to all, and the heart of the gospel is God’s mercy. Flooded with God’s mercy, our hearts should overflow as channels bringing to wounded and weary hearts Jesus’ healing mercy. For Jesus warns, our own salvation is not guaranteed by the Liturgy of the Word (“you taught in our streets”) nor by the Eucharist (“we ate and drank in your company”) (Luke 13:26). People far from that banquet, “from the east and the west and from the north and the south... will recline at table in the kingdom of God” (13:29). Rather, showing mercy is key to obtaining mercy ourselves (Matthew 5:7). So we should never dare ask what “someone” asked Jesus, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” (Luke 13:23). The crucial question is “Will I be saved?” And Jesus’ answer is another question: “Have you shown mercy to everyone, freely, gladly, no limits, no conditions, no exceptions?”
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - August 14, 2016 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Jubilee Year of Mercy bids us share our own experience of Jesus’ mercy with those on what Pope Francis calls the “peripheries” – people who feel marginalized, even unwelcome – inviting them to come home. But with all this mercy, why today’s mayhem? “Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Luke 12:51). Jesus “breaks down” those “breakups” in painful detail – parents, children, even in-laws. “Against” appears eight times in five verses. Jeremiah faced death for bearing witness (Jeremiah 38:4). Can’t we bear at least a small share of the sometimes merciless cost of sharing mercy? The Letter to the Hebrews warns us, keep your “eyes fixed on Jesus” and “so great a cloud of witnesses,” lest we “grow weary and lose heart” as we run “the race that lies before us” (Hebrews 12:1–3). After all, “for the sake of the joy that lay before him,” Jesus “endured the cross” (12:2). Can’t we endure our small crosses for the sake of sharing mercy?
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - August 7, 2016 - Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Sunday’s “Parable of the rich fool” delivered a compelling reason to do the right thing – now: “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you” (Luke 12:20). Today, Jesus warns us: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come” (12:40). Though we do not know when our Master will come, we do know what our Master expects to find. Jesus expects us to be vigilant (12:37) and diligent (12:42) in our work for the kingdom, but also filled with reverent mercy toward our fellow servants and ourselves. Hopefully, Jesus’ warning not to get drunk and beat each other up (12:45) does not apply to us literally! But what changes do I need to make, right now, so that the many people outside “the Master’s house” will want to come inside to experience the healing comfort of Jesus’ own mercy in the compassion of Jesus’ modern-day disciples?
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - July 31, 2016 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you” (Luke 12:20). Hardly sounds like mercy! Unlike some contemporary rich folks, there is no indication of lying, stealing, or cheating in Jesus’ parable. The rich man made a living, not a killing. Why does Jesus name him “fool”? First, because of presumption. Five times in nine verses, the rich man declares, “I shall.” God’s not in charge here, I am! Second, selfishness – four times, “my / myself.” No God, no neighbor; he talks to himself, about himself: my possessions, my productivity, my plans! So, instead of chasing “treasure for ourselves,” Jesus and Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy bid us grow “rich in what matters to God” (12:21), namely, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Give food, drink, clothing, and healing; visit the imprisoned; bury the dead. Heal with Jesus’ own gentleness the doubt, ignorance, and sins of others; comfort, forgive, be patient; and pray for the living and dead.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - July 24, 2016
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – World Youth Day in Krakow

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” – This week, the universal Church focuses in prayerful solidarity on World Youth Day in Krakow, where WYD’s founder, Saint John Paul II, served as archbishop. Its theme coincides with that of Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Today’s Gospel echoes the same theme, as Jesus unites prayer with mercy in “The parable of the persistent friend.” Jesus teaches us not only what words to pray, but what deeds must match authentic prayer. How beautifully down-to-earth is Jesus’ portrait of a God who can be trusted to do what is best for us. A pesky neighbor disturbs a sleeping friend and disrupts the household. Yet beautiful images unfold. Persevering prayer receives active, practical mercy in loaves of bread, recalling Luke’s unique expression for the Eucharist, “the breaking of bread” (Luke 24:35; Acts 2:42). WYD, the Jubilee, and Jesus thus unite to define perfect prayer as persevering communion with God and unconditional mercy toward our neighbor.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - July 17, 2016 - Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Sunday’s “Good Samaritan” parable concluded with Jesus’ command: Go provide hands-on mercy to the next person you meet, no conditions, no limits, no exceptions. But today, Jesus seems to criticize Martha’s hands-on mercy of hospitality, while praising Mary’s “hands-off” as “choosing the better part” (Luke 10:42). Mary sat listening (10:39), leaving Martha “burdened with much serving by herself” (10:40). So, is the contemplative life of prayerful silence “superior,” but the active life of earning a living, raising a family, running parishes, schools, hospitals, and social service ministries “second-class” discipleship? No; Jesus’ example is not either/or but both/and: silent communion with God, boundless compassion for people. If we do not seek Jesus in silent prayer, how will we find Jesus in all others? If we do not serve Jesus in others, will our worship, despite its beauty, be anything but empty ritual? This Jubilee Year of Mercy offers us Jesus’ two-fold challenge: both “go and do” and “sit and listen.”
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - July 10, 2016 - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Could anyone object to Jesus’ supreme lesson in mercy, the parable of the Good Samaritan? Jesus’ devoutly religious audience certainly did! Scant sympathy for anyone foolish enough to travel crime-ridden “Jericho Highway” alone. Much sympathy for priest and Levite, hurrying to assigned temple ministry, unwilling to risk ritual impurity through hands-on mercy. No sympathy for Jesus’ scandalous hero. Samaritans were religious apostates and political enemies. Jesus challenges them – and us – to seek God’s presence not only in liturgical beauty but in a fellow traveler’s self-inflicted misfortunes. See God’s presence even in someone outside the law, whose hands-on mercy springs not from religious obligation but from the heart’s instinctive goodness. Since Jesus became our “Good Samaritan” despite our foolishness and sins, who are we to ration our mercy? “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). The next person we see who needs hands-on mercy! No conditions, no limits, no exceptions. Especially in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Jesus commands, “Go and do likewise” (10:37).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - July 3, 2016 - Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Sunday, Jesus rebuked James and John for wanting to “call down fire from heaven” (Luke 9:54–55) on an unwelcoming town. As he sends forth disciples today, Jesus again forbids retaliation against non-receptive listeners (10:10–11), showing us how to be Jesus’ “missionaries of mercy” this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Like the first disciples, we are sent not to proclaim ourselves but Jesus. As Jesus sent them in pairs, so are we also to work together in the community of the Church. We often describe the Church as Isaiah describes Jerusalem in today’s first reading, our comforting, nurturing Mother (Isaiah 66:13). So, going forth gently, like lambs among wolves (Luke 10:3), we share comforting peace, nurturing food and drink (Luke’s image for Eucharist), and Jesus’ healing promise of unfailing, unconditional mercy (10:5, 7, 9). Thus Jesus bids us proclaim the kingdom of God by showing what God’s kingdom looks like in action. “Go, preach the Gospel,” Pope Francis’ saintly namesake of Assisi is said to have instructed his first friars, “and when necessary, use words!”
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - June 26, 2016 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Yet again in Ordinary Time, Jesus seems to demand extraordinary commitment. A would-be disciple enthusiastically volunteers to follow Jesus “wherever” (Luke 9:57). Jesus replies that “wherever” means “nowhere to rest his head” (9:58). To other candidates, Jesus brusquely denies reasonable requests to fulfill family obligations (9:59, 61), declaring that discipleship demands total commitment – now! But Jesus also demands that we not judge how others respond. When James and John volunteered to “call down fire from heaven” (9:54) to destroy an unwelcoming town, Jesus “turned and rebuked them” (9:55). All violence of any kind is completely unacceptable among Jesus’ disciples, a lesson this Jubilee Year of Mercy is teaching the Christian community once again. Paul’s challenge to the Galatians and us reinforces Jesus’ decisive command to James and John that they express their commitment to him through compassion for others. We must abandon the violence of “biting and devouring one another” (Galatians 5:15), choosing instead to “serve one another through love” (5:13).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - June 19, 2016 - Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Father’s Day
Today, as he often does, Luke portrays Jesus “praying in solitude” (Luke 9:18). The Jubilee Year of Mercy invites us to rediscover the value of silence as the prayerful setting in which to reflect on the ways in which God’s mercy transforms our lives, in order to make mercy the heart of our own lifestyle. But in a line that sounds odd, Jesus “rebuked” his disciples “and directed them not to tell anyone” (9:20–21) after they professed their faith in Jesus as “the Christ of God” (9:20). Jesus challenges us also to profess our faith not by what we say, but by what we do: take up our own cross daily (9:23) and “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). Our gratitude for God’s mercy toward us should make us instruments of God’s mercy toward all. Then, as Zechariah prophesies in today’s first reading, the fountain of God’s mercy will open to purify the whole world from the sin and selfishness that cause suffering and sorrow to so many (Zechariah 13:1).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - June 12, 2016 - Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
On today’s Jubilee for Those Sick and Suffering Disabilities, Jesus encounters a woman who is “spiritually ill.” She is thus “disabled” from participating in Israel’s worshiping community or polite society. Bathing Jesus’ feet with tears, drying them with unveiled hair, anointing them (Luke 7:38) risk Jesus’ becoming “unclean.” Yet his mercy welcomes even such inappropriate behavior as her sincere manifestation of love: “Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace” (7:48, 50). Go not just in “peace,” but in shalom, the all-enveloping, life-changing assurance of God’s mercy. She is anonymous, “known in the city” only as “a sinful woman” (7:37). The character with name and religious title, “Simon the Pharisee” (7:36, 40), judges her harshly, but himself not at all, and thus forfeits God’s mercy. This Jubilee Year of Mercy challenges us to selfexamination. In which role do we most often cast ourselves, humble sinner or judgmental Pharisee? Jesus declares that only by an unfailing willingness to show mercy to fellow sinners can we hope to obtain mercy ourselves
(see Misericordiae Vultus, 9).

- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - June 5, 2016 - Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Half the liturgical year 2016 is completed after six months of extraordinary celebrations. The Incarnation mystery: Jesus’ advent, nativity, epiphany. The Paschal mystery: Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, Pentecost’s Holy Spirit. The solemnities of Holy Trinity and Jesus’ Body and Blood. Today the Church resumes Sundays in Ordinary Time, but with a Gospel of extraordinary mercy: Jesus raises a dead man to life. Yet the one who benefits most from his extraordinary mercy is not the dead son but his widowed mother. With her husband and only son deceased, this woman’s material support, in that patriarchal society, had vanished. So had her emotional support, leaving her helpless, abandoned, on society’s “peripheries.” One of Pope Francis’ hopes in calling this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy is to transform us into more extraordinary Christians, by making our caring outreach to just such vulnerable people, and our practical self-sacrificing love for them, our ordinary, daily, Christian way of life!
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - May 29, 2016
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Lectionary’s Year of Luke presents a Gospel in which Jesus, who has welcomed, taught, healed, and shown God’s mercy to the multitude, refuses the Twelve’s demand to dismiss the crowd before him. Instead, he says, “Give them some food yourselves” (Luke 9:13). In Jesus’ hands, what little the Twelve has feeds five thousand (“men,” and probably as many women and children), leaving twelve baskets so the Twelve can continue Jesus’ ministry of mercy. Pope Francis has asked how we celebrate and live the Eucharist. Do we keep it to ourselves? Or do we “commune” not only with Jesus but with the multitude whom Jesus has given us to cherish? Entrusted to Jesus and shared with others, our limited resources can go a long way. Recognizing Jesus in the Eucharist demands that we recognize Jesus also in the hungry crowd. Adoring Jesus present in the Eucharist requires that we serve Jesus present in our neighbor.
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - May 22, 2016 - Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
The word mercy, Pope Francis declared in his announcement of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, “reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity” (Misericordiae Vultus, 2). For mercy is how God comes to meet us; mercy is the fundamental law helping us recognize everyone as brothers and sisters; mercy is the bridge connecting God and humanity, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness. God’s self-revelation as a life-giving, love-sharing Trinity of Persons draws us closer to God in friendship and communion. Both Judaism and Islam consider mercy one of God’s most important attributes. Israel unceasingly proclaims God boundless in mercy. Islam addresses the Creator as “Merciful and Kind,” believing divine mercy limitless, its doors always open. May this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis prays, open us to more fervent dialogue, deepen our mutual understanding, eliminate all closed minded disrespect, and drive out every form of violence and discrimination.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - May 15, 2016 - Solemnity of Pentecost
Announcing the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis challenged us to proclaim God’s mercy “to everyone without exception… again and again, with new enthusiasm and renewed pastoral action” (Misericordiae Vultus, 12). Pentecost proclaims that the door locked for fifty days is thrown open at last. No longer closed in on itself, the community speaks to crowds from different backgrounds, distant lands, exotic languages. Everyone hears their native language. The Spirit does not restore Babel’s uniformity, but forges unity-in-diversity of language, race, nationality - embracing all without exception. During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pentecost’s Spirit summons us afresh from mediocrity and isolation to share God’s mercy with the world. “This is our mission!” Francis exclaims. We are “given the gift of the ‘tongue’ of the Gospel and the ‘fire’ of the Holy Spirit, so that while we proclaim Jesus risen, living and present in our midst, we may warm… the heart of the peoples, drawing near to Him, the way, the truth, and the life” (Regina Coeli address, Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2015).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - May 8, 2016 - The Ascension of the Lord / Mother's Day
As the liturgical year – and this Jubilee Year of Mercy – unfold, we reflect on what Jesus’ ascension meant for the first disciples and means now for us. Stay in Jerusalem, Jesus had instructed, awaiting “the promise of the Father. In a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:4–5, 8). Despite Jesus’ absence, they wait “with great joy… continually in the temple praising God” (Luke 24:52-53). But as we join them, waiting and worshiping, the enduring challenge – theirs and ours – is delivered by “two men in white” (Acts 1:10). In every age, disciples must stop looking at the sky, head down the mountain, and go back into the world, “commissioned,” says Pope Francis, “to announce the mercy of God, the beating heart of the Gospel,” inviting everyone to find “in our parishes, communities, associations and movements… wherever there are Christians… an oasis of mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 12).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - May 1, 2016 - Sixth Sunday of Easter
In formal documents, presentations, and homilies outlining the purpose of this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis explains that compassion and understanding for those in difficult situations is not only our individual responsibility, but something the whole Church officially needs to manifest. Today’s Acts of the Apostles reading presents a moving example of the early church doing precisely that. Prayerful openness to the Holy Spirit assures the assembly that they have not acted alone in discerning the correct resolution: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us.” And they have chosen the compassionate response: “not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities” (Acts 15:28). Yet how daringly creative – the Jewish majority sets aside lifelong rituals that establish spiritual identity and express covenant fidelity. How radically trustful – the church affirms universally valid principles while respecting uniquely local and personal situations. Exactly the grace Pope Francis prays this Jubilee Year will renew in today’s Church!
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - April 24, 2016 - Fifth Sunday of Easter – Jubilee Day for Youth
This Sunday’s “Youth Jubilee” previews July’s World Youth Day in Krakow. Its theme from Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful,” echoes Pope Francis’ warning that “the practice of mercy is waning in the wider culture.” In countercultural witness, therefore, “the time has come,” says Francis, “for the Church to take up the joyful call to mercy once more. It is time to return to the basics and to bear the weaknesses and struggles of our brothers and sisters.” Jesus affirms the same in today’s Gospel. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34). Francis concludes, “The Church’s very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love.” Jesus too asserts, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Thus mercy “makes young” the Church, the world, and everyone. “Mercy is the force that reawakens us to new life and instills in us the courage to look to the future with hope” (Misericordiae Vultus, 10).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - April 17, 2016
Fourth Sunday of Easter – Good Shepherd Sunday: World Day of Prayer for Vocations

This Sunday celebrates Jesus as “the Good Shepherd.” When announcing this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis focused on Jesus’ “lost sheep” parable in Luke. “[Who] among you,” Jesus asks, “having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4). A reasonable answer? “No responsible shepherd who wants to keep the job!” Yet Jesus considers one lost person supremely important and suggests blaming the shepherd. The sheep didn’t “go astray,” the shepherd “lost” it. Thus, “when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy” (15:5). That tender image of Jesus adorns the simple cross Pope Francis has always worn, the Good Shepherd gently carrying the lost sheep home on his shoulders. During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, may we, who once were lost ourselves but now are found, join Jesus in seeking, finding, and gently carrying home at least one precious lamb.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - April 10, 2016 - Third Sunday of Easter
How appropriate today’s Gospel for this Jubilee Year of Mercy, both because of the “breakfast” Jesus provides (“a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread”) and the number of fish in Peter’s net (“one hundred fifty-three”) (John 21:11–12). Of the fish, Saint Augustine suggests that the roasted fish is the suffering Christ. Saint Gregory the Great adds that Christ lowered himself to swim in the “water” of our humanity; to be caught in the “net” of our death; to be “roasted” in his Passion on the fire of suffering. Saint Jerome claims that “one hundred fifty-three” represents the full number of known species of fish, signifying that the Church’s “net” has room for all our widely diverse humanity, securing our unity-in-diversity in the hands of Peter and his successors. Having received God’s mercy as “the beating heart of the Gospel,” may the Church – we – “pattern [our] behavior after the Son of God who went out to everyone without exception” (Misericordiae Vultus, 12).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - April 3, 2016 - Second Sunday of Easter / Divine Mercy
Last year on this Sunday, Pope Francis declared this year a Jubilee Year of Mercy. Saint John Paul II named the Second Sunday of Easter “Sunday of Divine Mercy” in response to Saint Faustina Kowalska’s Divine Mercy devotion, which offered spiritual comfort to hearts worldwide. But Francis challenges us to make that comfort we receive a gift we gladly share: “We are called to show mercy because mercy has first been shown to us.” The clearest expression of merciful love, says Francis, is pardoning others. “At times how hard it seems to forgive!” he acknowledges. “And yet pardon is the instrument placed into our fragile hands to attain serenity of heart” (Misericordiae Vultus, 9). The necessary condition for living joyfully? “To let go of anger, wrath, violence, and revenge.” May Divine Mercy Sunday in this Jubilee Year of Mercy remind us that Jesus made mercy our life’s ideal and a criterion for our faith’s credibility: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - March 27, 2016 - Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia! Easter is always, but especially in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, the victory of God’s gentle but invincible mercy raising up Jesus, “faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead” (Revelation 1:5), “first-born among many brothers [and sisters]” (Romans 8:29), conquering death in all its forms, in all of us in the human family. In Luke’s Vigil Gospel, heavenly messengers send the women forth: “Remember what [Jesus] said to you” (Luke 24:6). In John’s Gospel, the empty tomb likewise “sends forth” Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the Beloved Disciple, who believe though they do not fully understand. Finally, Luke’s evening “Emmaus” Gospel sends us forth, as “missionaries of mercy,” assuring us that we will encounter the Risen Lord, today and every day, in “the stranger” we meet along life’s journey, in “the Word that makes our hearts burn within us,” and “in the breaking of bread” (see Luke 24:32, 35).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - March 20, 2016 - Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Misericordiae Vultus: The Face of Mercy is Pope Francis’ official decree announcing this Jubilee Year of Mercy. But Francis had already declared that Jesus “has shown the face of God’s mercy” back in 2013 on his first Palm Sunday as pope. Francis described Luke’s account of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem: “Crowds, celebrating, praise, blessing, peace: joy fills the air. Jesus has awakened great hopes, especially in the hearts of the simple, the humble, the poor, the forgotten, those who do not matter in the eyes of the world. He understands human sufferings… has bent down to heal body and soul.” Entering Jerusalem, Jesus looks at all of us with love, Francis continued, at our sicknesses and sins. “A beautiful scene, full of light – the light of the love of Jesus” (Pope Francis, Palm Sunday homily, March 24, 2013). May this Jubilee Year’s Holy Week and Triduum make us Jesus’ own light-bearers and love-givers to all who long to see the Face of Mercy.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2013, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - March 13, 2016 - Fifth Sunday of Lent
How fitting that the first Sunday Angelus of Pope Francis, who has made mercy his papacy’s theme, took place the last time today’s Gospel about Jesus’ encounter with the adulterous woman was proclaimed. “Jesus’ attitude is striking,” Francis declared. “We do not hear words of scorn or condemnation, only words of love, of mercy, an invitation to conversion: ‘Neither do I condemn you’” (John 8:11). Francis continued: “God’s face is the face of a merciful father who is always patient. Have you thought about God’s patience, the patience [God] has with each one of us? That is [God’s] mercy. [God] always has patience, patience with us… understands us… waits for us… does not tire of forgiving us” if we return “with a contrite heart” (Pope Francis, Angelus address, March 17, 2013). Parishes preparing catechumens may proclaim Jesus’ raising of Lazarus. Referring to Lazarus, and all those “raised” from the “death” of sin, Jesus defines the community’s “mission of mercy” - “Untie him and let him go” (John 11:44).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2013, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - March 6, 2016 - Fourth Sunday of Lent
On Laetare Sunday, we rejoice as Luke’s Jesus proclaims that God is boundlessly merciful. The parable’s prodigal son returns home, not authentically repentant but desperate, having squandered on prostitutes (or so his older brother claims) the inheritance wrongly demanded while his father still lived. This selfish son is only spared ritual “shaming” when the father “shames” himself, running to embrace him, interrupting his prepared “act of contrition.” By doing so he challenges confessors, and all of us, to be signs, says Pope Francis, “of the primacy of mercy always, everywhere, and in every situation, no matter what.” Avoid the harshness of the elder son, Francis warns, “who stands outside, incapable of rejoicing,” his judgment “severe, unjust, and meaningless in light of the father’s boundless mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 17). If John’s Gospel is proclaimed, the “religiously observant” people there likewise serve to warn against harshly judging others, for the physical blindness of the man they expel from the synagogue is healed, while their own blindness of heart remains.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - February 28, 2016 - Third Sunday of Lent
Pope Francis wants “Twenty-four Hours for the Lord,” around-the-clock availability of the sacrament of reconciliation, implemented worldwide this Friday and Saturday. Celebrated with his oft-recommended “tenderness,” the sacrament is “a source of true interior peace,” says Francis, enabling people “to touch the grandeur of God’s mercy with their own hands” (Misericordiae Vultus, 17). In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus warns us against judging others. Focus instead, Jesus says, on deepening - or restoring - our own relationship with God, for during this Lenten springtime that Master Gardener can use even life’s manure (the parable’s “fertilizer”) to coax fresh fruit from a tree that seems hopelessly barren - us! Parishes preparing catechumens may choose John’s Gospel, which likewise cautions against judging. Imagine what the Samaritan woman’s lifelong neighbors thought of her multiple relationships. But by discovering Jesus, then sharing her good news - and Jesus - with those very neighbors, she whom they had probably judged quite sinful became instead their evangelist and “missionary of mercy.”
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - February 21, 2016 - Second Sunday of Lent
Many icons depicting Jesus’ transfiguration bear the Greek title Metamorphosis, a technical term also for nature’s springtime transformation. Fittingly, this Jubilee Year of Mercy coincides with the Lectionary’s Year of Luke, for only Luke specifies Moses and Elijah speaking about Jesus’ “exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). Israel’s exodus liberated from slavery; Jesus’ exodus liberates from sin’s living death of selfishness. Pope Francis suggests that Lent’s prayer, fasting, and works of charity can transfigure the world, if Christians translate Isaiah’s challenge into our daily lived experience of Jesus’ life-giving exodus by releasing those bound unjustly, setting free the oppressed, sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and homeless into your house, clothing the naked, not turning your back on your own. “If you remove from your midst oppression, and malicious speech... then light shall rise for you in the darkness... you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails” (Isaiah 58:9, 10, 11).
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - February 14, 2016 - First Sunday of Lent
On Ash Wednesday Pope Francis commissioned “Missionaries of Mercy,” priest-confessors sent forth worldwide as “living signs of the Father’s readiness to welcome those in search of [God’s] pardon.” In a way, though, Pope Francis challenges all of us to become “missionaries of mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 18) by living Lent in this Jubilee Year of Mercy “more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy” (MV, 17). Francis bids us make the prophet Micah’s words our own: “God… who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency. You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins” (Micah 7:18, 19). Having experienced God’s mercy ourselves in the unconditional forgiveness of our sins, how eager we should be to invite others to know the peace of God’s boundless mercy; perhaps even to experience, through our reaching out in gentle kindness and compassionate care, something of God’s unconditional love for them.
– Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
– Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - February 7, 2016 - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis calls us to share with everyone the tender compassion of God that we ourselves have experienced. In today’s Gospel, Luke uses a special Greek word conveying just such tenderness. In the other Gospels, Jesus calls the disciples to be “fishers,” haleis, the same word that means catching fish with hooks or nets, to be killed and eaten. But Luke uses zogron, from zoe or “life,” meaning “catch or gather people alive,” as animal lovers capture without harming, rescue from “the wild” for a better life, and protect in aquarium or zoo, tenderly cared for by professionals committed to the creatures’ well-being. So in Luke’s vision - and Pope Francis’ as well - we who have been “caught alive” by God’s mercy ourselves are to become “missionaries of mercy” during this Jubilee Year of Mercy, rescuing fellow sinners from danger and gathering them into Jesus’ community to enjoy fullness of life. - Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - January 31, 2016 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Rave reviews greeted Jesus’ first hometown homily proclaiming a year of God’s mercy, but the mood turned violent when he went on to declare that God’s mercy embraces outsiders; it rejects distinctions between citizen and foreigner, acceptable and unworthy, even sinner and saint. Far from being anyone’s personal possession, God’s kingdom is open to everyone, God’s love unconditional, God’s mercy boundless. By this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis repeats Jesus’ challenge in today’s Gospel to broaden our horizons until our vision matches Jesus’ vision of every sinner as a potential saint, and each suffering stranger as our neighbor. Jesus, says Pope Francis, continually went beyond the law, keeping company with public sinners and even sharing meals with them to demonstrate that God’s mercy is “the beating heart of the Gospel” (Misericordiae Vultus, 12). To be truly Jesus’ disciples, such unconditional love and boundless mercy must also be at the center of all we say and do.
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
- Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - January 24, 2016 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
When he announced this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis highlighted today’s Gospel episode, in which Jesus proclaims in his hometown synagogue his Spirit-anointed mission to fulfill the promises of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus’ mission then, says Pope Francis, is our mission now as Jesus’ disciples this Jubilee Year of Mercy: to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord, a year of God’s mercy. Pope Francis challenges us to translate Je-sus’ mission to contemporary needs: to console by word and deed those materially or spiritually poor, to liberate those bound by modern society’s new forms of slavery, to open the eyes of those blinded by their own self-interest, and to restore human dignity to all those from whom it has been stolen. To act with mercy in a spirit of joy! - Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - January 17, 2016 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mary, whom Catholic tradition names “Mother of Mercy,” at Cana intercedes with her Son to show mercy toward the bridal couple: “Son, they have no wine.” But he does more! Jesus’ transformation of water into wine is a “sign” (John’s term for “miracle”) that God’s marriage with the whole human race has begun in Jesus’ person and ministry, a marriage that will be consummated on the cross: “It is finished” - we are saved! But before Jesus acts, Mary instructs the servers to prepare the way for Jesus’ miracle of mercy: “Do whatever he tells you.” During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Mother Church, like Mother Mary, instructs us to share the Spirit’s manifold gifts - some of which Paul lists in today’s second reading - in generous service to the human family. Thus we prepare the way for Jesus’ new miracles of mercy, transforming life’s sometimes stagnant water into the refreshing wine of God’s mercy. - Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - January 10, 2016 - Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
Fittingly, this Jubilee Year of Mercy is also the Lectionary’s Year of Luke, for Luke’s Gospel highlights God’s mercy in finding the lost, healing the sick, restoring the broken, comforting the sorrowful, forgiving the sinner through Jesus’ ministry. But before doing, Luke’s Jesus is always praying. As practical moderns programmed to measure worth by productivity, we instinctively appreciate the Jubilee’s call to embrace the practical challenges of our baptism. But today Luke focuses not on Jesus being baptized, but on Jesus praying after baptism. So must we pray to become the disciples we are called to be, that the Spirit empower us to do what disciples are called to do. Imitating Jesus’ openness to the Spirit will enable us to cooperate with the grace that transforms us into “beloved sons [and daughters]... in whom the Father is well pleased,” living out, in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, the extraordinary potential of our baptism. - Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - January 3, 2016 - The Epiphany of the Lord
In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Epiphany celebrates God’s mercy shining on the magi from a guiding star. Their kingdoms were far from Jerusalem, their religions far from God’s covenant with Israel. At first the star led the magi to Jerusalem, where they could “recalculate” their quest with the help of God’s own “GPS,” the Jewish scriptures. How challenging and humbling for the magi to discover that they would find the world’s Messiah not in a palace but with a poor couple in an insignificant village. That’s where God’s mercy, shining in the star, led the magi to worship Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Today the magi invite us to “recalculate” our life’s journey during this Jubilee Year – to follow the star of God’s mercy along the way of humble love, to discover a renewed personal relationship with Jesus ourselves and so become “guiding stars” leading other seekers to find Jesus, too. - Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - December 27, 2015 - Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
Imagine: three New Year’s celebrations in little over a month! In late November, Advent began the new liturgical year; December 8, the Jubilee Year of Mercy; this coming Friday, the New Year 2016. In today’s Gospel, after three days of anguish, Mary tells Jesus how desperately she and Joseph have been searching for him. Mary could be speaking for the whole human race. With religious persecutions raging, international and domestic conflicts seething, our family and friends suffering various difficulties, not to mention our own personal problems, how much our world needs Jesus as another New Year veiled in mystery begins! As we pray for God’s mercy to enfold our world and embrace each of us in 2016, let our New Year’s resolution be to live the Jubilee Year of Mercy by being for others, as Mary was, a channel of God’s mercy and an instrument of Christ’s peace. - Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

Please Note: Due to the Holidays, One Word at a Time will not be available this week.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - December 20, 2015 - Fourth Sunday of Advent
In proclaiming the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis proclaimed his desire that this Holy Year be “steeped in mercy,” as we disciples “go out to every man and woman,” bringing the “balm of mercy” to “believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst!” (Misericordiae Vultus, 5). In her visitation of Elizabeth, Mary beautifully presents just such an image. Despite the perils of her pregnancy, not to mention her preoccupations as a young unwed mother, Mary instantly, unselfishly, “goes out” of herself, hastening far and over dangerous terrain, to “bring the balm of God’s tender mercy” in assistance rendered to her older relative. Since baptism and the Eucharist have made us, in a way, bearers of the living Christ within as Mary was, such selfless “going out” of ourselves to be of loving service to others in mercy should especially mark our Christmas season this Jubilee Year. - Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

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Jubilee Year of Mercy - December 13, 2015 - Third Sunday of Advent
Pope Francis chose to inaugurate the Jubilee Year of Mercy last Tuesday because December 8 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of Vatican II. That council, Pope Francis reminds us, inaugurated a new phase in the Church’s history. The Spirit called the Church to tear down the walls that for far too long had made it a fortress, and to proclaim the gospel in a new, more accessible way. Pope Francis quotes Saint John XXIII in declaring the Church’s preference for “the medicine of mercy,” and Blessed Paul VI in proposing the Good Samaritan as our model for discipleship (Misericordiae Vultus, 4). Pope Francis adds that God’s mercy is “the beating heart of the Gospel,” and that mercy “must penetrate the heart and mind” of every disciple (MV, 12). Three times today’s Gospel asks, “What should I do?” Pope Francis would say: Imitate Jesus, who came not wielding the fiery judgment that John the Baptist had threatened, but instead imparting healing, compassion, forgiveness - mercy!
- Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.


 

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