Holy Year of Mercy
In Religious Articles Brabander , as a store specialized in liturgical ornaments , we try to be participants in all the events that the Church celebrates.
On December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Extraordinary Jubilee Holy Year of Mercy will begin. Through this celebration, Pope Francis wants Christians to bring mercy to all social environments, following in the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have prepared this entry to delve into the meaning of the Holy Year of Mercy : Pope Francis' relationship with mercy, the explanation of the Jubilee Year logo, the history of the Holy Years, the official prayer of the Jubilee Year, etc...
In addition, to commemorate this Extraordinary Holy Year, we present some of the liturgical vestments that we have prepared: the chasuble of the Jubilee Year of Mercy , the official stole of the Jubilee Year , the official lectern cloth of the Holy Year , Paschal Candle 2017 of the Holy Year , etc...
Pope Francis and mercy, "Miserando atque electing"
Pope Francis has always had a very close relationship with mercy. It has always motivated him and he has always believed that it is a very Christian quality.
When he was Bishop, he already selected “miserando atque electing” as his motto . The motto comes from the Homilies of Saint Bede the Venerable, who in one of his comments on the Gospels of Saint Matthew's devotion writes "Vidit ergo lesus publicanum et quia miserando atque electing vidit, ait illi Sequere me (Jesus saw a publican, and as he looked at him with a feeling of love and chose him, he said: Follow me) ". In this homily, homage is paid to the mercy of God . For the Pope has a
great significance since at only 17 years old, during the celebration of the feast of Saint Matthew , he was aware of God's love and mercy in a very special way. This event would mark his entire life. The motto "Miserando atque electing" could be translated as "Loving him chose him" or "He looked at him with mercy and chose him" and has accompanied the Pope throughout his career. It is currently part of the pontifical shield that Francis chose.
Another of the facts that allow us to know the Pope's intimate relationship with mercy were the words that Francis pronounced in the first angelus, on March 17, 2013, after being elected Pope: " When you hear mercy, this word changes everything ." . It's the best we can hear: it changes the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to understand well this mercy of God, this merciful Father who has so much patience”.
We can also point out that in the Spanish version of the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium the word mercy appears 29 times.
Another of the Pope's messages related to mercy that is remembered is the Lenten message of 2015. In it the Holy Father tells us "How much I wish that the places where the Church manifests itself, in particular our parishes and our communities, may they become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference .”
Finally, one of the most original religious articles presented by Pope Francis, the misericordina , should not be forgotten. A medicine for the soul in the form of a rosary. The name of this medicine is a clear reference to Divine Mercy.
The Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis announces the Jubilee.
March 13, 2015 will be remembered for a very important event, the announcement by Pope Francis of the celebration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy . On the day he celebrated two years since his election as Pontiff, Pope Francis announced to the world that on December 8, 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception , the Holy Year of Mercy will begin. The celebration will come to an end on November 20, 2016, the day of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.
In the words of Pope Francis: “This is the time of mercy . There is such a need for mercy today that it is important that the lay faithful live it and bring it to the various social environments. Ahead!".
On April 12, the official announcement of the Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy took place. The Holy Father Francis, accompanied by the four Cardinal Archpriests of the Papal Basilicas of Rome, made the proclamation of the Jubilee Year next to the Holy Door, at the entrance of the Vatican Basilica.
With the reading, publication and delivery of the Bull of Convocation “Misericordiae vultus” to Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran; Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican; Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major and Cardinal James Michael Harvey, Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, solemnly convened the Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy.
It should be noted that the year 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council , held in 1965, so this Jubilee Year will have a very special meaning.
The logo and motto of the Jubilee Year of Mercy
The Jubilee Year of Mercy logo
The Jubilee Year of Mercy has a motto and logo that summarize the central ideas of this important celebration.
The Holy Year logo takes its inspiration from a very important image for the ancient Church: the love of Christ for humanity that reaches its maximum splendor in the redemption of the Son.
The image of the Jubilee Year of Mercy has been created by Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik I. , an important artist born in 1954 in Zadlog, Slovenia. In the drawing, the author represents Our Lord Jesus Christ holding on his shoulders a bewildered, disoriented man with a lost soul. Christ is represented with a completely white alb , on his hands and feet we can see the wounds he suffered during the Crucifixion. The alb is attached to the waist by a cincture. Jesus wears a red and gold halo on his head.
In the image we can see how the eyes of Jesus merge with the eyes of the misguided man . Christ can see through the eyes of man, and man can see through the eyes of Jesus. In this way each man and each woman can know their own humanity and their own soul looking through the merciful eyes of Jesus.
The logo is complemented by several almond-shaped lines that surround the figure of Jesus and the lost man. This type of figure is taken from the mandorlas that were used in Romanesque and Byzantine religious art throughout the Middle Ages. This type of halo was used to frame sacred characters, mainly Jesus. The mandorla represented is the result of the intersection of two circles that convey the existence of two worlds , the earthly world and the heavenly world. Jesus carries the lost man between the two worlds.
Inside the mandorla we can see how there are several concentric stripes whose blue color becomes lighter as we approach the outer area of the halo. Through this distribution we understand that Jesus transports us from the deep darkness of the night, as a representation of death, to the day, as a representation of the eternal life that Jesus did not grant.
The motto of the Jubilee Year of Mercy
The motto of the Holy Year of Mercy is "Merciful like the Father" (In English: "Merciful like the Father" and in Latin: "Misericordes sicut Pater"). This phrase has been taken from the Gospel of Saint Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”. The idea of the Holy Year summarized in this sentence is complemented by the following two verses from Saint Luke:
“37 Judge not, and you will not be judged: condemn not, and you will not be condemned: forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over they will give into your bosom: for with the same measure that you measure, it will be measured to you.”
The central idea of the Holy Year is Mercy taking our Lord as an example. Forgive without limits, as God does, and love without limits, as God does.
All religious articles of the Jubilee Year of Mercy are decorated with the logo of the Extraordinary Holy Year 2015 and the Latin motto "Misericordes sicut Pater".
Prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee of Mercy
"Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us to be merciful like the Heavenly Father,
and you have told us that whoever sees you, also sees Him.
Show us your face and we will obtain salvation.
Your look full of love freed Zacchaeus and Mateo from the slavery of money;
the adulteress and the Magdalena of seeking happiness only in a creature;
he made Peter cry after the betrayal, and secured Paradise for the repentant thief.
Make each one of us hear as our own the word you said to the Samaritan woman:
If you knew the gift of God!
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his omnipotence above all with forgiveness and mercy:
make the Church the visible face of You, her Lord, risen and glorious, in the world.
You wanted your ministers to be clothed with weakness
so that they feel sincere compassion for those who are in ignorance or in error:
make whoever approaches one of them feel expected, loved and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate us all with his anointing
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord
and your Church may, with renewed enthusiasm, bring the Good News to the poor
proclaim freedom to the prisoners and oppressed
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,
to you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen. “