Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) –
The Pope presided at the first vespers of the second Sunday of Easter
– Divine Mercy Sunday – in St. Peter's Basilica at 5.30 p.m.
yesterday, Saturday 11 April. The celebration included the
consignment and reading of the official Bull of Indiction of the
Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, to begin on 8 December 2015 and to
close on 16 November 2016.
The Holy Father, accompanied by the
cardinals, transferred to the entrance of the Vatican Basilica, and
by the side of the Holy Door, he presented the Bull of Indiction to
the four cardinal archpriests of the papal basilicas of Rome: St.
Peter in the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside-the-Walls
and St. Mary Major. As an expression of his desire that the Jubilee
be celebrated both in Rome and throughout the world, the Pope also
handed a copy of the Bull to the prefects of the Congregations for
Bishops, for Evangelisation of Peoples, and for the Oriental
Churches, and thus symbolically to bishops worldwide. A copy of the
document was received by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai on behalf of
all the East , and by Archbishop Bartolome Adoukounou for the African
continent. Msgr. Khaled Ayad Bishay of the Patriarchal Church of
Alexandria of the Copts received the copy destined for the Oriental
Churches.
The Regent of the Papal Household,
Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, apostolic protonotary, read a number of
extracts from the official document convoking the extraordinary Holy
Year, in the presence of the Pope. The Holy Father then went on to
preside at first vespers in the Vatican Basilica, and pronounced the
following homily.
“The greeting of the Risen Christ to
His disciples on the evening of Easter, 'Peace be with you!',
continues to resound in us all. Peace, especially during this Easter
season, remains the desire of so many people who suffer unprecedented
violence of discrimination and death simply because they bear the
name 'Christian'. Our prayer is all the more intense and becomes a
cry for help to the Father, Who is rich in mercy, that He may sustain
the faith of our many brothers and sisters who are in pain. At the
same time, we ask for the grace of the conversion of our own hearts
so as to move from indifference to compassion.
“St. Paul reminds us that we have
been saved through the mystery of the death and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus. He is the Reconciler, Who is alive in our midst offering
the way to reconciliation with God and with each other. The Apostle
recalls that, notwithstanding the difficulties and the sufferings of
life, the hope of salvation which Christ has sown in our hearts
nonetheless continues to grow. The mercy of God is poured out upon
us, making us just and giving us peace.
“Many question in their hearts: why a
Jubilee of Mercy today? Simply because the Church, in this time of
great historical change, is called to offer more evident signs of
God’s presence and closeness. This is not the time to be
distracted; on the contrary, we need to be vigilant and to reawaken
in ourselves the capacity to see what is essential. This is a time
for the Church to rediscover the meaning of the mission entrusted to
her by the Lord on the day of Easter: to be a sign and an instrument
of the Father’s mercy.
“For this reason, the Holy Year must
keep alive the desire to know how to welcome the numerous signs of
the tenderness which God offers to the whole world and, above all, to
those who suffer, who are alone and abandoned, without hope of being
pardoned or feeling the Father’s love. A Holy Year to experience
strongly within ourselves the joy of having been found by Jesus, the
Good Shepherd Who has come in search of us because we were lost. A
Jubilee to receive the warmth of His love when He bears us upon his
shoulders and brings us back to the Father’s house. A year in which
to be touched by the Lord Jesus and to be transformed by His mercy,
so that we may become witnesses to mercy. Here, then, is the reason
for the Jubilee: because this is the time for mercy. It is the
favourable time to heal wounds, a time not to be weary of meeting all
those who are waiting to see and to touch with their hands the signs
of the closeness of God, a time to offer everyone the way of
forgiveness and reconciliation.
“May the Mother of God open our eyes,
so that we may comprehend the task to which we have been called; and
may she obtain for us the grace to experience this Jubilee of Mercy
as faithful and fruitful witnesses of Christ”.
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