On March 13, 2015, Pope Francis announced a special Holy Year, which will be celebrated from Dec. 8, 2015, until Nov. 20, 2016. The biblical theme of the year, he said, is “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
A wise priest once told me that mercy is where love meets suffering. That’s a pretty profound definition. I’ve pondered it often, even meditated on it, but I’m not sure I really understood it until I recently saw a letter from Calvary Hospital in the Bronx.
A British department store is creating a buzz this Christmas after teaming with Age UK, a charity for senior citizens, to raise funds and awareness of the scourge of loneliness among the elderly today.
In keeping with Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy, Sacred Heart School has been performing acts of kindness in Bayside.
AS THE YEAR of Mercy began, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, I remembered the popular parable: the prodigal son. Its graphic depiction of the younger son’s profligate behavior, the depth of his misery groveling for scraps among pigs, and the father’s magnanimous welcome with rings, robe, sandals and feast leave little unsaid about the father’s boundless mercy. However, the character who intrigues me is the older brother.
Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros blessed and walked through the Holy Door at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, Astoria, to signal the opening of the Jubilee Year.
Visiting 50 churches in three dioceses, Father Anthony Stanganelli, pastor of St. Brigid Church in Westbury, L.I., covered 55 miles as he made a two-day walking pilgrimage to mark Year of Mercy.
Scenes from Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio opening the Holy Doors at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, Prospect Heights, Dec. 13.
The Catholic Church needs the extraordinary Holy Year to become an effective witness of God’s divine mercy, Pope Francis said.
The Holy Year of Mercy officially began in Brooklyn and Queens on Sunday, Dec. 13, as Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and the auxiliary bishops conducted prayer services and blessed six Holy Doors.
Pope Francis has a “burning desire” during this special Jubilee Year. He wants us to reflect on and practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy so that we may “enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy.”
