When Pope Francis proclaimed the extraordinary Jubilee, he recalled the words of John Paul II: "The word and concept of mercy seem to make contemporary man uneasy—a man who, thanks to the enormous development of science and technology, has become master and has subjugated and dominated the earth... yet seems to leave no room for mercy."
The mercy of the Father, who took the face of Jesus: the Holy Father called us to live this dimension of Love, highlighting its concrete expression in the call to perform works of mercy. He performed gestures and had encounters of great significance. Recently he reminded us that "mercy is a journey from the heart to the hands in which we must allow the suffering—both that of others and our own—to wound our heart." A journey in which our hands become true agents of the heart, bearers of mercy.
It is a journey necessary to recognize ourselves and acknowledge each person as worthy and capable of love. The Pope describes mercy as "a fundamental law that dwells in the heart and looks with sincere eyes upon the brother beside us, opening the way to hope"—a law that offers the grace of becoming more than human, acknowledging ourselves as sinners, as wounded, as human.
As Monsignor Fisichella helps us understand, the days and encounters of this Jubilee become a starting point for our personal and communal life. Communities that feel themselves touched by mercy in standing alongside those who, wounded in intellect or in the capacity for relationship—or in other conditions that make us contemporary men and women uneasy—are perfect agents able to reveal insincere smiles or actions, to probe our souls, by virtue of a heart fully desirous of loving and of being loved.
Cristina Tersigni, 2016