Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

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The light is on for you

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The light is on for you

The season of Lent during this Jubilee Year should also be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy.
Pope Francis, ‘Misericordiae Vultus’ 17

There is no more personal experience of God’s mercy than the Sacrament of Reconcili-ation. The Holy Father reminds us, “God is always ready to forgive, and he never tires of forgiving in ways that are continually new and surprising … all of us know well the experience of sin.” (MV 22)

Sin separates us from God. It also separates us from the Body of Christ through which we encounter Jesus and through which we are strengthened by the Spirit. That separation alienates us. We feel cut off. We have cut ourselves off.

When we seek to be reunited through the Rite of Reconciliation, the priest, acting as Christ, reconciles us with the Body of Christ and with the Father. The priest and the Church offer the prayer of Christ that we be reconciled and that prayer of Christ is always responded to by the Father. Although we confess to the priest, the agent of the ministry of reconciliation is the Holy Spirit.

In the words of Pope Francis, “The Jubilee year makes it possible for many of God’s sons and daughters to take up once again the journey to the Father’s house.” In order to make that journey possible, every church in the Catholic Diocese of Dallas will participate in the Light is ON for You initiative in which the Sacrament of Reconciliation is offered at every one of our parishes in the Diocese of Dallas on Wednesday March 16 and Wednesday March 23. I hope you will come home and experience the mercy of God.

The light is on for you.

To know mercy, look at Jesus

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To know mercy, look at Jesus

If you want to know what mercy is – look at Jesus. In his Lenten Message, Pope Francis describes Jesus as “mercy incarnate.” (Message for Lent 22) In his Bull introducing the Year of Mercy, the Holy Father writes: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8,16), John affirms for the first and only time in all of Holy Scripture. This love has now been made visible and tangible in Jesus’ entire life. His person is nothing but love, a love given gratuitously.”

Love can never be words alone, neither can mercy. “As we can see in Sacred Scripture,” the Pope reminds us, “mercy is a key word that indicates God’s action towards us. He does not limit himself merely to affirming his love, but makes it visible and tangible. Love, after all, can never be just an abstraction. By its very nature, it indicates something concrete: Intentions, attitudes, and behaviors that are shown in daily living.” (MV 9)

Jesus is mercy incarnate because he was sent to personify the Father’s mercy through actions. Jesus tells us that himself in Luke, (4:18) the Holy Father explained: “They called upon him to read the Scripture and to comment on it. The passage was from the Book of Isaiah where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to those in captivity; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor’ (Is 61:1-2). A ‘year of the Lord’s favor’ or ’mercy’:: this is what the Lord proclaimed and this is what we wish to live now.”

Mercy is the foundation of the Church, it should also be the foundation of our discipleship.

The Name of God is Mercy

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20160212-mercy

In Pope Francis’ new book, his first since his election to the Chair of Peter, the Pope explains why mercy has become the hallmark of his Papacy and how it provided the title of his book, The Name of God is Mercy.

Recalling the words of Pope Benedict, “Mercy” Pope Francis points out, “is in reality the core of the Gospel message; it is the name of God himself, the face with which he revealed himself in the Old Testament and fully in Jesus Christ, [the] incarnation of Creative and Redemptive Love. This love of mercy also illuminates the face of the Church, and is manifested through the Sacraments, in particular that of the Reconciliation, as well as in works of charity, both of community and individuals. Everything that the Church says and does shows that God has mercy for man.”

We as disciples, individually as Christians and collectively as Church, are instruments of God’s mercy in the world today. We are called, “to be instruments of mercy because it was we who first received mercy from God, to be generous with others, knowing that God showers his goodness upon us with immense generosity.”

This is uniquely true In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where, “the apostles and all their successors—the bishops and their colleagues the priests—become instruments of the mercy of God.” They act “in persona Christi,” in the person of Christ, to mediate God’s forgiveness. “The Lord never tires of forgiving: never! It is we who tire of asking him for forgiveness. We need to ask for the grace not to get tired of asking for forgiveness, because he never gets tired of forgiving.”

The Holy Father tells of a priest who once told him, “I forgive a lot and sometimes I have doubts, I wonder if I have forgiven too much? — We talked about mercy and I asked him what he did when he had those doubts.” This is what he said: “I go to our chapel and stand in front of the tabernacle and say to Jesus: ‘Lord, forgive me if I have forgiven too much. But you’re the one who gave me the bad example!’ ”

When Peter asked how many times he should forgive someone, Jesus said, not seven times but seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22), or in other words, always.

The Holy Father’s book would be wonderful reading for Lent (and for always). It is readily available in bookstores and online in both book and eBook formats.

I will be writing more about it throughout the Lenten season.

An invitation to God’s Mercy this Lent

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An invitation to God’s Mercy this Lent

As you receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, the minister asks you to turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel. Those words are an invitation to God’s mercy.

In his Lenten message to the Church, Our Holy Father Pope Francis asks that the Season of Lent in 2016 “be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy.” With the Pope’s words in mind, I will devote my blogs for each week of Lent and the Holy Week Triduum to the many aspects of God’s mercy.

When he opened the Holy Door at the Vatican on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis reminded us of “How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of them being forgiven by his mercy — we have to put mercy before judgment.”

Our Holy Father reminds us in his message that, “The mystery of divine mercy is revealed in the history of the covenant between God and his people Israel. God shows himself ever rich in mercy, every ready to treat his people with deep tenderness and compassion, especially at those moments when infidelity ruptures the bond of the covenant, which then needs to be ratified more firmly in justice and truth. Here is a true love story, in which God plays the role of the betrayed father and husband, while Israel plays the unfaithful child and bride. These domestic images– as in the case of Hosea (Cf Hos 1-2) – shows to what extent God wishes to bind himself to his people … in Christ the Father pours forth his boundless mercy even to making him “mercy incarnate” (Misericordiae Vultus 8).

Forgiveness then is not only something to be received but something to be offered. It should be part of our nature. Mercy should be proactive, not only given reluctantly when it is asked for but offered freely to those who have offended us and never withheld as punishment or retaliation. Reconciliation is sharing God’s mercy.

For some of us it is easier to forgive others than to forgive ourselves. Somehow we feel that our offenses are beyond forgiveness. Pope Francis points out that such is not the case, reminding us that “in Jesus crucified, God shows his desire to draw near to sinners, however far they may have strayed from him.”

The sacrament of reconciliation is a personal and intimate experience of God’s mercy. Our priests, as missionaries of mercy, have been given the privilege to forgive the most serious of sins, even those reserved to the Holy See. They will be, in the words of Pope Francis, “living signs of the Father’s readiness to welcome those in search of his pardon.”

“We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:20)

 

The Light is ON for You

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The Light Is ON for You

 

The light of welcome and the grace of reconciliation will be waiting in every parish of the Diocese of Dallas on Wednesday, March 25th and Wednesday, April 1st. Confession is difficult for many, particularly those who have been away from the Church or the sacrament for a long time. I know of nothing better on this topic than the recent words of encouragement and welcome from Pope Francis.

Speaking to a crowd in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said, “When was the last time you went to confession? If a long time has passed, do not waste another day. Go,the priest will be good. It is Jesus who is there, and Jesus is better than a priest. Jesus will receive you. He will receive you with love. Be courageous and go to confession! … Every time we confess, God embraces us, God celebrates! Let us go ahead on this path. May God bless you!”

The Holy Father continued, “It is not enough to ask for the Lord’s forgiveness in our own minds and hearts, but rather it is also necessary to humbly and trustfully confess our sins to a minister of the Church. …The priest does not only represent God, but rather the community as a whole. Anyone who seeks to confess only to God should remember that our sins are also committed against our brothers and against the Church, which is why it is necessary to ask forgiveness from them too… the priest receives this confession with love and tenderness, and forgives in the name of God.”

“The forgiveness of our sins is not something we can offer to ourselves; it is not the result of our efforts, but rather a gift from the Holy Spirit, which fills us from the wellspring of mercy and grace that surges endlessly from the open heart of Christ, crucified and risen again. … It reminds us that it is only by allowing ourselves to be reconciled through the Lord Jesus with the Father and with our brothers that we may truly be at peace.”

Recognizing that fear can often keep us from confession, the pope added, “From a human point of view, to unburden oneself, it is good to speak with a brother and to tell the priest those things which lie so heavily upon our hearts. And one feels unburdened before God, with the Church, and with a brother. Do not be afraid of confession!”   The Holy Father went on to note,   “A priest’s heart is a heart that is able to be touched. … If it is true that tradition suggests the dual role of doctor and judge for confessors, we must never forget that the doctor cures and the judge absolves… Confession is not a sentencing court, but rather, an experience of forgiveness and mercy!”

Sowing the love of God

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Sowing the love of God

In the Peace Prayer of St. Francis the various couplets following our request to be made God’s instrument as we discussed in our last blog, are a litany of those elements necessary for peace; love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy—”but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13)

Our verse this week is on love because it is the cornerstone of peace. It is also the antithesis of hatred to which it is closely related as is true of antithetical terms, which are defined by each other. For example, darkness is the absence of light.

Poetess Etla Wheeler Wilcox penned the line, “Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes.” Hate destroys, love gives life. Hatred and love cannot co-exist. Jesus commands us that we are to “love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). One who loves unconditionally, as God loves us, cannot hate.

Hatred has many faces. Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel professes that “the opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference,” which he characterizes as, “the epitome of evil.” Indeed, Pope Francis has been an outspoken critic of the “globalization of indifference,” which has replaced love and mercy with “an economic system that has removed the person from the centre and replaced him with the god of money; an economic system that excludes, and creates the throwaway culture in which we live.”

We sow love by our witness, acts of kindness, compassion, mercy, consideration shown to others. Love is contagious. The Holy Father observed that “Goodness always tends to spread. Every authentic experience of truth and goodness seeks by its very nature to grow within us, and any person who has experienced a profound liberation becomes more sensitive to the needs of others. As it expands, goodness takes root and develops. If we wish to lead a dignified and fulfilling life, we have to reach out to others and seek their good” (EG 9). Just as “the love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14), our acts of love impel others, for God is love and those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:16)

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Image Credit: USDA on Flickr

Becoming an instrument of God’s peace

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Becoming an instrument of God's peace

The Peace Prayer of St. Francis begins with a plea that God use us as his instrument. An instrument is something that is used to accomplish a greater purpose than is inherently possible in and of itself. A flute is a device that must be used to be an instrument, such as when it is used by James Galway to make magical music. Mary became the instrument used by God to accomplish the Incarnation.

In praying the Peace Prayer we are asking God to change us, to “make us” which implies we are asking to be changed, to move in a new direction; to experience what the early Church called metanoia, a Greek word meaning changing one’s mind. Our Christian ancestors used it to refer to conversion.

Conversion is always the work of the Holy Spirit, even the grace, the nudge to consider the idea, is from the Spirit. When we ask Jesus to change us into his instrument, what are we asking for? The answer is provided in an old hymn written in 1926 by David Iverson called Spirit of the Living God. Here are the lyrics that describe what we are requesting when we ask to be made into Jesus’ instrument.

Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me.

If I may borrow from the 12 Steps Program, it means to “let go and let God.” Conversion is at the heart of Christian Faith. On Ash Wednesday we were charged to “repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

The Holy Spirit calls us in many voices. One of those voices we are hearing a lot lately is that of Our Holy Father Pope Francis, who in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium wrote, “The new evangelization calls on every baptized person to be a peacemaker and a credible witness to a reconciled life.” (EG  239)

What habit, what opinion contrary to the Gospel, what withheld forgiveness must we surrender to the cauldron of conversion this Lent to allow ourselves to be melted, molded, and filled? What must we change to become an instrument of God’s peace?

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Image credit: “IU Violin Shop” by Austin Davis on Flickr

The Prayer of St. Francis and the writings of Pope Francis

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The Prayer of St. Francis and the writings of Pope Francis

Let us begin with The Peace Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

The Prayer for Peace attributed to St. Francis of Assisi has attained great popularity among both Christians and non-Christians. Although the prayer was not written by St. Francis, it reflects his writings and the witness of his life and has been widely published including in Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

Franciscan Father Albert Haase notes in his brief book on the Peace Prayer, Instruments of Christ, that “It has been prayed in formal settings such as the United States Senate and the inauguration of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of England. It has also been prayed in times of sorrow such as the funerals of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Princess Diana of Wales….the Peace Prayer is truly a prayer for all times and for all peoples.” As Father Haase observes that is probably because “Its words carry the entire weight of the teachings of Jesus.”

Since Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became the first pope to take the name of Francis, similarities in style and substance between Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi have become apparent, especially the simplicity of lifestyle, commitment to the marginalized and calling us all to return to the foundational teachings of Jesus.

In our blogs during Lent, we will reflect on the similar ways that the basic teachings of Jesus are presented in the Prayer of St. Francis and the writings of Pope Francis, particularly in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

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Image Credit: Pope Francis kisses a hand-carved figure of St. Francis of Assisi that was given to him as he greeted patients, family members and staff at St. Francis of Assisi Hospital in Rio de Janeiro July 24. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) (July 24, 2013)