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Vatican City, Apr 2, 2016 / 12:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Receiving God’s mercy ignites in us the drive to become “instruments of mercy,” especially to the weakest and the marginalized, Pope Francis said Saturday at a vigil for the feast of Divine Mercy.

“The more we receive, the more we are called to share it with others; it cannot be kept hidden or kept only for ourselves,” he said, addressing those gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

“It is something which burns within our hearts, driving us to love, thus recognizing the face of Jesus Christ, above all in those who are most distant, weak, alone, confused and marginalized.”

Falling each year on the first Sunday after Easter, the feast of Divine Mercy was instituted by St. John Paul II in 2000 during the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish mystic whose apparitions of Jesus inspired devotion to the Divine Mercy.

This year’s feast falls within the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which Pope Francis publicly proclaimed during the 2014 vigil for the feast of Divine Mercy. The Jubilee began Dec. 8, 2014, and will conclude Nov. 20.

“Mercy seeks out the lost sheep, and when one is found, a contagious joy overflows.  Mercy knows how to look into the eyes of every person; each one is precious, for each one is unique,” the Pope said during his addess. 

Francis delivered his vigil address following a series of testimonies and readings from Scripture, all on the theme of mercy.

The expressions of God’s mercy in His encounters with us are “numerous,” he said; “it is impossible to describe them all, for the mercy of God continually increases.”  

“God never tires of showing us mercy and we should never take for granted the opportunity to receive, seek and desire this mercy,” he said.  

“It is something always new, which inspires awe and wonder as we see God’s immense creativity in the ways he comes to meet us.”

Throughout Scripture, God has frequently revealed himself as mercy, the Pope observed.

“How great and infinite is the nature of God, so great and infinite his mercy, to the point that it is greatly challenging to describe it in all its entirety.”  

Francis cited a passage from the prophet Isaiah, and its “extremely evocative” image of God holding each of us to his cheek. 

He had this passage in mind for the image of the Jubilee, he said: “I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them” (Isaiah 11:4).  

“How much tenderness and love is expressed here!” the Pope said. “Jesus not only carries humanity on his shoulders, but his face is so closely joined to Adam’s face that it gives the impression they are one.”

Francis reflected on God’s capability of “understanding and sharing our weaknesses” through Christ’s Incarnation.

“Precisely because of his mercy God became one of us,” he said. 

By being touched by God’s mercy in Jesus, moreover, we are in turn “inspired to become instruments of his mercy,” the Pope continued.  

“It is easy to speak of mercy, yet more difficult to become its witness.” 

He spoke of the many ways in which mercy comes to us: “closeness and tenderness,” “compassion and solidarity,” “consolation and forgiveness” – and this in turn compels us to share mercy with others, he said. 

Francis also reflected on how Christ’s love “makes us restless” and “impels us to embrace, welcome and include those who need mercy, so that all may be reconciled with the Father.”  

“We ought not to fear for it is a love which comes to us and involves us to such an extent that we go beyond ourselves, enabling us to see his face in our brothers and sisters,” he said.  

“Let us allow ourselves to be humbly guided by this love; then we will become merciful as the Father is merciful.”

In off-the-cuff remarks, Francis referenced the Gospel reading which recounts the Apostle Thomas' initial disbelief, and his need to place his fingers into Jesus' wounded side in order to be convinced of his resurrection. 

A faith that does not allow us to put our fingers into the wounds of Jesus' side "is not faith," the Pope said. "It is not a faith that is capable of being merciful."

"It is not faith. It is an idea. It is ideology. Our faith is incarnate, in a God who was made flesh," he said, "who was wounded for us." 

If we want to believe "with seriousness," the Pope said, "we must come close to and touch the wounds, caress the wounds," while bowing our heads to allow others to "caress our wounds."

The Pope concluded by urging faithful to remain open to being transformed by the Holy Spirit, who is the love and “mercy that is poured into our hearts.”  

“May we not place obstacles to his life-giving work but with docility follow the path he shows us,” he said.  

“Let us open our hearts so that the Spirit can transform us; thus forgiven and reconciled, we will become witnesses to the joy that brims over on finding the risen Lord, alive among us.”

 

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Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias has appealed for prayers for the release of Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salesian priest ‎abducted by unknown gunmen early March in Yemen.  At the triduum leading up to Divine Mercy ‎Sunday, the cardinal who is Archbishop of Bombay appealed on Friday for prayer and mercy to save ‎the 56-year-old priest, kidnapped by suspected Islamic State group gunmen.   The attackers stormed the ‎Missionaries of Charity compound in Aden, March 4, slaying of 16 people at a home for the elderly‎ run ‎by the Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns.  Four of the dead were the nuns themselves.  India’s bishops ‎have also appealed to the government, calling for "urgent action" to secure the release of the Salesian ‎priest. ‎

Speaking to AsiaNews, Card Gracias, who heads the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences ‎‎(FABC) as well as the Latin-rite bishops of India (CCBI) noted that the Jubilee of Mercy proclaimed ‎by Pope Francis is a "privileged moment".  The prelate called on "prayer groups, parishes, religious ‎institutes, chapels, monasteries and also private homes "to pray for Fr Tom.  "I pray that each of us ‎entrust Fr Tom to the Divine Mercy,” Card Gracias said. “I also ask you to pray that he may safely ‎come back to us, and I encourage all of you to partake in his suffering. Let us ask that he may soon ‎regain his freedom."  “Saint Pope John Paul II said that only Divine Mercy is able to impose limitations ‎on evil,”  Cardinal Gracias recalled.  Therefore, “Let us pray through Mary, Mother of Mercy also for ‎those who perpetrated the barbaric killing of our 4 missionaries of charity and kidnapped Fr Tom,”   he ‎added. ‎ (Source:AsiaNews)

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(Vatican Radio) The initial sympathy with which the Greeks viewed the migrants is evaporating fast, as citizens’ groups near Idomeni at the Greece-Macedonia border claim migrants have broken into their homes and could be carrying disease.

Listen to John Carr's report:

Their complaints are putting pressure on the Greek government to relocate the 13,000 migrants amassed in tents on the border, by force if necessary.  Some migrants, in desperation, are blocking the rail line at Idomeni, demanding that the Macedonian border reopen.  While such a development is highly unlikely, the line closure has crippled local businesses.

Unrest is mounting at the port of Piraeus where 5,000 migrants stubbornly resist being bused to more comfortable holding camps.  The camp on the island of Chios is overflowing, with its occupants demanding to be allowed to travel to mainland Greece.  That camp and others are swelled by new arrivals daily, as the recent EU-Turkey migrant restriction deal proves unenforceable.

The government here in Athens claims the migrant tents at Piraeus will be cleared by the end of this month.  How it will be done is not clear.  But officials fear that with Orthodox Easter a month away, the sight of the amassed migrants might upset those people who want to travel to the islands for the holiday.

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A leading rights group reported on Friday that deaths due to violence in Pakistan dropped 40 percent in 2015, but 4,612 people died that year in bombings and other attacks, as the government battles to contain a militant insurgency.  The report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) was released just days after an Easter Sunday suicide bombing killed 70 people in a park in the city of Lahore, a reminder that despite improvements, rates of violence remain high in the country.  The HRCP report titled ‘State of Human Rights in 2015’ said the number of people killed in sectarian violence declined too, with 272 fatalities in 2015 compared to 420 in 2014. The report recorded 706 militant attacks in Pakistan last year, the lowest number since 2008. An army operation in Pakistan's North Waziristan has significantly damaged militant networks.

However, the HRCP also reported a rise in honour killings.  Nearly 1,100 women were killed in Pakistan last year by relatives who believed they had dishonoured their families.   In its annual report the commission said 900 more women suffered sexual violence and nearly 800 took, or tried to take, their own lives. In 2014 about 1,000 women died in honour-related attacks and 869 in 2013.  Correspondents say a large number of such crimes go unreported in Pakistan.  The report said that 88 men were also the victims of honour killings last year.

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The Secretary-General of the United Nations has issued a message on the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day, calling for advancing the rights of individuals with autism and ‎ensuring their full participation and inclusion as valued members of our diverse human family who can ‎contribute to a future of dignity and opportunity for all.  The theme of the 2016 observance is, "Autism and the 2030 Agenda: Inclusion and Neurodiversity."  “Autism and other forms of disability are part of the human experience that contributes to human diversity,” UN chief Ban ki-Moon noted in his message, saying “mainstreaming disability requires an integral approach in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres, so that inequality is not perpetuated.”  In this regard he said “the equal participation and active involvement of persons with autism will be essential for achieving the inclusive societies envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.   Ban lamented that in many countries, and too many societies shun people with autism, saying this is “a violation of human rights and a waste of human potential.”  “The rights, perspectives and well-being of people with autism, and all persons with disabilities, are integral to the 2030 Agenda and its commitment to leave no-one behind,” he added.  (Source: UN) 

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