The Door of Mercy

What is a door for? And w hat is a Door of Mercy for? Ev ery day w e pass through many doors: house doors and front gates, car doors and train doors. But passing through a door opens up a new space to us. A door is there not just to allow me “pass through it”, but it enables me to “pass over” and exper ience a change. Jesus described him-self in St. John’s Gospel: “ I am the door” (Jn.10:9). He also invited the Apostles (and us) “Let us go across to the other side” (Mk.4:35-6). The other side of the Door of Mercy is w here “mercy” is received and in receiv ing it w e ourselves become merciful. The inv itation or call to go through the Door and pass over to the other side is a call to conversion. The Door of Mercy aw aits you. It is not locked. You are invited to enter through it w ith an open heart and begin the “pilgrimage of mercy” journeying from sin to mercy.

“Let me know your M ercy, O Lord, so that I may become M erciful”.

The Shrine of Divine Mercy

The Divine Mercy Shrine, is based on appar itions to Sr . Faustina w hich took place in Poland in the 1930’s. Sr. Faustina w as the first person to be canonis ed in the new Mil-lennium by St. John Paul II. The message of the Divine Mercy, how ever, is not new . Biblically based, it became incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ. Our four Gospels proclaim in a pre-eminent w ay the “good new s” of God’s mercy. Nevertheless, over the centuries other aspects of God’s revelat ion conc ern-ing justice and judgement emerged and obtained greater emphasis. It is told that a deserter from Napoleon’s army w as caught and w as to be executed for his desertion. His mother intervened and as ked Napoleon for mercy for her son. Napo-leon replied “He deserted, he deserves to die”. To w hich the mother replied: “ I know that” “That is w hy I as k for mercy, not justice!” Divine Mercy is greater than justice. It is not opposed to justice but goes beyond it. St. John Paul II said “I pass on this message of Divine Mercy to the new Millennium. I pass it on because I want people to know the better face of God and that of his Divine Merc y and through it the better fac e of their brothers and sisters. Divine Merc y puts a limit to Evil. God is ultimately victorious ”

Take a leaflet from the Shrine outlining Sr. Faustina’s revelations and pray “M y Jesus I trust in you”.

Jubilee Year of Mercy 2016 at St. Brigid’s Parish, KiIlester

Our Pilgrimage of Mercy

What do we mean by God’s Mercy?

It is essentially a relationship with God on offer to us. It is God’s gratuitous, ever-faithful, loving kindness, lavished on us even when we have

no reason to expect or deserve it.

THE BETTER FACE OF GOD

St. Brigid

The Relic of St. Brigid

We are so fortunate to have in our Church a f irst class Relic of St. Brigid. It is a portion of her cheekbone. Arch-bishop Edw ard Byrne of Dublin solemnly enshr ined the Relic on the 29th of January 1929. St. Brigid died on February 1st, 525 and w as buried in Kildare. Due to the Scandinav ian raids, her Relics w ere taken to Dow npatrick in 878. In 1283 some Ir ish knights on Crusade took w ith them the head of St. Br igid, perhaps to protect it. These knights fell f ighting against the Moors in Portugal. The Holy Relic w as brought to King Denis, w ho confided it to the care of the s isters of St. Bernard, in the Royal convent of Odivellas. Lumiar remains its resting place today. A portion of this Relic w as obtained under the seal of the Cardinal of Lisbon on November 26th,1928, and later en-shrined in our Church by Archbishop Byrne. The Casket in w hich the relic is enclosed w as made to the des ign of the casket w hich contains St. Patr ick’s Bell. The reliquary ins ide the cas ket is in the form of an Ir ish Cross, and is made of bronze, and heavily gold-plated.

“St. Brigid, pray for us”. St. Brigid’s Motto: “Blessed are the Merciful”

According to the Book of Lismore St. Brigid, w hen re-ceiving the veil from Bishop MacAille at Croghan Hill, Co. Westmeath in 467A D, w as one of eight girls, each of w hom selected a Beatitude as their motto for life. Brigid w as given first choice and choose “Blessed are the Merciful”. Later, she w as fully professed by Bishop Mel and it is this event that is recalled in the 1952 painting by George Collie on the back w all of our Church. A part icular feature of the paint ing is the blue r ibbon inserted below the kneeling figure of Brigid, on w hich is inscribed in gold letter ing: “BEATI M ISECOR ......i.e. “Blessed are the merciful”. As Mercy w as the hall mark of our Saint, it is appropriate that w e should celebrate this Jubilee Year of Mercy and pract ise this virtue in our lives. “Holy St. Brigid, the flower of Kildare, Her merciful goodness was without compare To the sick and the poor She would give the whole store May she teach us all how to c are”.

“Lord, help me be M erciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful”.

Left: Painting in St. Bri-gid’s church depicting St. Brigid being professed by Bishop Mel . On the floor is a blue ribbon quoting

her life motto “Beati Misericor”

(Blessed are the merciful). Right: Close up of motto.

Our Lady’s Shrine, Mother of Mercy

“Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, hail our life, our sw eetness and our hope”. “My soul magnifies the Lord... for his Mercy is from age to age on those w ho fear him... He protects Israel his Servant remember ing his Mercy, the Mercy promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever”. (Lk. 1:46,54-55).

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death”.

Sacred Heart Shrine

Jesus, true God and true man is honoured for his love that is sy mbolised by his heart. St. Margaret Mary, had in 1673-5 a number of visions in w hich Jesus as ked her to spread this devotion w hich essentially reveals the Lord’s in-credible love for his Father and for us. Chr ist is the Mercy Door opened for us w hen his side w as pierced by the lance. Christ’s heart has been seen as a seat of Mercy. His Heart symbolises Our Lord’s inf inite Mercy for all mankind.

“I will comfort the afflicted, I will bring peace to their homes. I will bless all their undertakings. I shall be their

safe refuge at the hour of death”. (Promises of Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary)

“Behold This heart which has so much loved men, that it has spared nothing” (Jesus to St. Margaret Mary).

The Lord’s Merciful Way of the Cross (The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy)

1 2 3 4 Feed the Hungry Satisfy the thirsty Clothe th e naked Welcome th e stranger. 5 6 7 8 Visit the sick Shelter the homeless Bury the dead Counsel the doubting 9 10 11 12 Guide those in error Pardon the sinner Comfort th e sorrowful Forgive offences

13 14 15 Suffer patiently Pray for living & dead Christ is Risen ! Alleluia

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world , not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn.3:16-17).

Seeing with the Eyes of Mercy

The Jubilee Logo portrays the Good Shepherd in his great Mercy taking humanity upon his shoulders in the person of Adam, w ith his eyes merged w ith those of human kind. Christ sees w ith the ey es of Adam and Adam w ith the eyes of Christ. Jesus and Adam, by sharing a common eye, indic ate that both see life from each other’s perspective. Jesus and all humanity see “eye to eye” w ith each other. “Lord help me in this Holy Year to see my si ster s and brothers through the compa ssionate eyes of Jesus, bringing them and me boundless M ercy and Forgiveness”.

The Sacrament of Merciful Forgiveness or of Reconciliation

Pope Franc is tells us: “The confessional must not be a torture chamber, but an encounter with the mercy and love of God. Do not be afraid of c onfession! When one is in line to go to confession, one feels all these things, even shame, but then when one finishes confession one leaves free, grand, beautiful, forgiven, candid, happy. This is the beauty of con-fession! I am telling you: eac h time we go to confession, God embraces us. God rejoices! Let us go forward on this road. After confession we are reborn: through forgiveness the heart is renewed and rejuvenated. The Lord never tires of forgi ving: never! It is we who tire of asking his forgiveness”.

“O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, give me the grace

and courage to humbly confess my sins”.

No Greater Love

“The cross is, as it were, God turning the other cheek. I t is God saying to mankind: “I love you. I love you though you ran away from me. I want you back. But I don’t want to drag you back, I want you to come back on your own. That is why I sent my Son, so that you in him can come back to me, pick up the threads of the old love, be c hanged inwardl y. I t was for this I sent him into your world, a world into which you had smuggled the hopelessness of death when I had forbidden you to. He drank down your death, a cruel death to show how bitter your sin is: to express his love for me and my love for you. Since he went to death with s uch love I raised him from the dead. That love of his bridged the gap between you and me. I accepted his sacrifice and made him alive for ever so that he could share his life and his love with you which is my life and my love. That is why I sent him: to seek out and to save that which was lost”. (God our Saviour, DeRosa, p107).

“Let me be M erciful O Lord and walk in your footsteps, for you are M erciful”.

Confessions:

Saturday 10.30 am

Before and after daily Mass.

Resolve: To seek forgiveness in the Sacrament of Mercy and with God’s help

“be merciful like the Father.”