Tag: jubilee

On
Brent King, For the Catholic Herald

Jubilee Year of Mercy approaches its end

holy door
A Holy Door is located at St. Patrick Church, 404 E. Main St., Madison. Another Holy Door is located at Holy Redeemer Church, 120 W. Johnson St., Madison. Both churches are part of the Cathedral Parish. For more information on Mass and Confession schedule, go to www.isthmuscatholic.org A Holy Door is also found at the Schoenstatt Founder Shrine, 5901 Cottage Grove Rd. in Madison, which is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.  (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash)

MADISON — Led by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, Catholics around the world have had a great opportunity to make contemplating and celebrating the Mercy of God a daily part of our lives through our observance of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Here in the Diocese of Madison, we adopted the theme, “Contemplating the Face of God’s Mercy.”

Many of us may read this and wonder, “What does this mean for me and what does this mean for my church/our diocese?”

These are good questions to be asking, especially as we consider how to continue to respond to God’s mercy once the Jubilee Year concludes on November 20.

We should keep asking ourselves those questions, and now is the perfect time to reflect on our own, as well as our collective, participation in this Jubilee Year.

Where we’ve been

Whether alone, with our families, or with the larger community, we always start every faithful effort with sincere prayer — through study, meditation, and more formal worship — especially in placing ourselves in our Lord’s very presence at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration.

Sincere and humble contemplation upon the face of God’s mercy will always lead us to the continual conversion we each need, and this conversion leads us to seek God’s mercy eagerly through the Sacrament of Penance and through living out the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy more frequently and more perfectly.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Continuing the Year of Mercy

We are approaching the end of the Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis, which began on December 8, 2015, and will conclude on November 20.

This year has been an invitation for all of us to rediscover and encounter the incredible mercy of God. It has been an invitation to love, kindness, and generosity — things that we all need more than ever in our world today.

And just because the Year of Mercy ends on November 20, it doesn’t mean we have to stop learning more about mercy and incorporating it into our daily lives.

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On
Dale Lawinger

Priests should preach about sin, Confession

To the editor:

As we enter into this extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, it is good to see the extra times set aside by our priests for the Sacrament of Confession. I am concerned that most priests will have a lot of reading time or time to visit with Our Lord as they wait for people to come to this sacrament of mercy.

We must not judge another person, but our priests need to teach from the pulpit what sin is. Today’s Church has forgotten to lead people, to be a teacher to us, more on dogma on the faith and not just love your neighbor.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

On the Year of Mercy

year of mercy diocese of madison door of mercy
Bishop’s Letter

“I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God! May the balm of mercy reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst!” — Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 5

“We serve to ensure that all individuals throughout the 11-county diocese are graciously invited every day to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face and be changed by Him.” – Mission Statement of the Diocese of Madison

To the faithful of the Diocese of Madison,

In calling for an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has issued a call meant not only to urge a return to the Almighty, but also to reinvigorate and inspire those of us who try to live lives as followers of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Holy Father has also unintentionally, but not surprisingly, endorsed our own diocesan “mission.”

The Holy Father begins his Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, with the following words: “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith.” In carrying out our diocesan mission of “inviting others to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face, and be changed by Him,” we are inviting them to meet the face of the Father’s mercy — to meet mercy incarnate. This invitation is one which is tied up in a challenging realization with regard to who God is and who “I” am, and it should be a profound and even startling invitation for each woman and man who lives in, and grapples with, a world that is nearly completely lacking in mercy.

Our world and our culture offer a great deal of lip-service to certain notions of tolerance and license, but these notions are grounded in a premise that truth is what you make it, and is subject to change, if public opinion is swayed to agree on the matter. Absent a grounding in the Truth and a foundation in humanity’s authentic encounter with mercy itself, all attempts at justice and mercy are mere shadows, structures built on sand. To experience mercy and to grant mercy, individuals and cultures must be anchored in the Truth and in a recognition of sin and repentance.

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