# Our Mission: Witness to God’s Mercy
*2015-12-18*

> Bill reflects on Pope Francis’ 79th birthday and the Holy Year of Mercy, urging the Church to become a missionary community that bears witness to God’s infinite mercy.

## Celebrating Pope Francis

Good afternoon and welcome to the three‑o’clock hour, the Hour of Mercy. Today is Pope Francis’ 79th birthday. We pray that he enjoys a blessed, happy, and long life, not for his own sake but because the Church needs a strong and vibrant Pope.

## The Holy Year of Mercy

The current season is the Holy Year of Mercy, a reflection drawn from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation *Misericordiae Vultus* (The Face of Mercy). The theme for us is “Our Mission: Witness to God’s Mercy.” Pope Francis recently announced the second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, so she will be canonized next September as Saint Mother Teresa.

## The Church as a Missionary Community

The Church, meaning each of us as members, is called to bear witness to the power of God’s mercy that transforms us in our daily work. We are a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, support one another, bear fruit, and rejoice. An evangelizing community knows that the Lord has taken the initiative—He loved us first (1 John 4:19). Therefore we must boldly go out to others, seeking those who have fallen away, standing at the cross, and welcoming the outcast.

## Living the Mercy of Christ

Such a community has an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of its own experience of God’s infinite mercy. Let us try a little harder to take the first step, to become involved in people’s daily lives, to bridge distances, to embrace human life, and to touch the suffering of Christ in others. Many situations call for our comforting witness—those burdened by suffering, injustice, or the tyranny of money, power, and success. We are called to testify that only God can eliminate the causes of existential and spiritual tragedy.

## A Prayer for the Jubilee Year

Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful as the Heavenly Father. You have said that whoever sees you sees the Father’s face and will be saved. You are the visible face of the invisible Father, manifesting power above all through forgiveness and mercy. May the Church be your visible faith in the world. Send your Spirit, consecrate each of us with anointing, so that this Jubilee Year of Mercy may be a year of grace. May the renewed enthusiasm of the Church bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captive, and give sight to the blind. Amen.

*Let us each become a missionary disciple, daring to bring God’s mercy into the world.*