St. Francis of Assisi Weekly Reflections

Mercyful Like the Father

04-24-2016Weekly Reflection

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 counter-cultural 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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Are you actively searching for the Lost Sheep?

04-17-2016Weekly Reflection

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.
Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

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God's Love is MERCIFUL

04-10-2016Weekly Reflection

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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Blessed are the Merciful

04-03-2016Weekly Reflection

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.

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