A word from the Superior General

Pope Francis in the Cathedral of Bangui and in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and all the Bishops in their respective dioceses, have ushered in the Jubilee Year of Mercy by opening the Holy Door. Everyone can meet the person of Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, who died for us and rose again. In Him everyone can discover the merciful face of the Father and experience the tenderness of an undeserved Love.

The message and witness of St Michael Garicoits can, throughout the coming year accompany our experience of mercy. This is how he expresses it:

This quotation from St Michael states very well what mercy really is: to touch the wretchedness of the other with one’s heart, stoop over, humiliation, to kneel before the one who is in the depths of his misery, threatened in his humanity so as to reinstate him, to redeem him and restore him in his dignity. The movement emanates from the Heart of God soiled by contact with us and runs the risk of contamination by the misery which degrades man’s heart (a heart which has become incarnate, the mud of our flesh). From this point of view the mystery of the Incarnation is a mystery of mercy.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ, Son of God, humbled himself, not regarding equality with God as a privilege; he became man like one of us; he knelt down to wash the feet of his disciples; he cast out wicked spirits, he cured the sick, he forgave sin and consoled the afflicted. Like the Good Samaritan, he was full of compassion, he approached him, he cared for him, he took care of the man abandoned on the roadside as if he were dead. Like the Good Pastor he takes the lost sheep on his shoulders; like the Father he takes the Prodigal Son in his arms and covers him with kisses.

St Michael Garicoits always associates humiliations and obedience with devotion: “God humble and devoted”. Humility, obedience and humiliation are compatible with devotion on condition of being responsible and capable of great deeds; doing as best one can for the benefit of the neighbour. What is the best? It is when Jesus gave himself up on the Cross so that all may have life in abundance. The maximum of mercy corresponds to the maximum of humiliation. It is a question of not being full of good intentions, good words, great projects, but to do all in one’s power, just like the Good Samaritan. When he had seen the state of the man lying in the ditch, he carried out these actions: he approached him, dressed his wounds by pouring oil and wine over them; the he loaded him on his own mount, took him to the inn and took care of him. The next day he took two silver coins and handed them to the innkeeper saying: “Look after him and whatsoever you spend over and above I will repay you on my return”. (Luke 10, 34-35).

Mercy is therefore active. In Matthew 25, 35-36, the King suggests actions also. ”For I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you dressed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to see me.” There you have the corporal works of mercy.

In the performance of her Mission, the Church Mother and Mistress has come to realise that there are other needs of man’s spiritual dimension; this is why she expects us to practice the spiritual works of mercy: teach the ignorant, council those in need, correct the ignorant, forgive sinners, console the afflicted, bear patiently with the shortcomings of our neighbour, pray to God for the living and the dead.

Pope Francis is dusting down genuine Christian practices and is making the Gospel shine by his attention to the poor: for example, the showers installed on St Peter’s Square, the hairdresser sent to the Homeless, the 30 bed dormitory opened in the Vatican. His example has been followed by plenty of parishes and Institutions in the Church. It is something he used to do in Buenos Aires during Lent by charitable events; all benefits were earmarked for social action for the poor, in a different part of his diocese each year.

So that in community we too may live this Holy Year of Mercy, so that with our hearts we may come close to the situation of human misery, so that we too may put our finger on Christ in the person of the poor as we look them in the eyes, I am asking every Betharramite community to have in their monthly project the practice of some work of mercy. Thus we shall learn what it means to live out the reality of our faith according to which “love is expressed more by acts than by words” (St Ignatius of Loyola).

Gaspar Fernández Pérez, scj
Superior General