This is the question posed by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops in their recent Pastoral Letter.

"We are not here to give answers but let us all look to the example the Holy Father, Pope Francis, is giving us."

"The personal motto he had as Archbishop of Buenos Aires he has retained as Pope. It reads miserando atque eligendo, and comes from a homily of Saint Bede the Venerable (Homily 21) in which he is commenting on the extraordinary choice of Jesus to include Matthew - the unpopular and probably corrupt tax collector - among his Apostles."

"Why would Jesus choose Matthew? How could Jesus choose him? The answer lies in the heart of Jesus: filled with mercy, Jesus is able to see Matthew in a new light; filled with mercy our Lord comprehends the tax collector Matthew in a new way; filled with mercy Jesus recognizes within Matthew an already existing goodness to which others had been blind."

The Bishops are encouraging Catholics to read chapters 25 and 26 of the book of Leviticus.

"You may well be surprised at what you learn. Jubilee years are not a kind of soft, sanctimonious, experience. They are about justice and forgiveness, right relationship with God, with one another, and with the land."

We learn in reading Leviticus that Jubilee Years bring God's expectations of us into the nitty gritty of:

• farming practices
• land utilisation, the property market
• wages and salaries
• debt relief
• the setting of invoices and bills

"When lived well, a Jubilee Year is a practical experience of the restoration of fairness and goodness, and therefore of grounded holiness where we experience the awe and joy of doing what is right in the eyes of God."

Read Pastoral Letter

Source

• www.catholic.org.nz
• Image: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

He told Catholics who were part of a march from the Marist Brothers' High School ground to the Sacred Heart Cathedral that opening the door of mercy means renewing their commitment in their faith and to start fresh by transforming their lives through God's mercy.

The significance of opening the door of mercy is believing that those who pass through the door is a gesture of leaving their old lives and are transformed in starting fresh with their lives.

"Mercy is the basic principle of the activity of God and Jesus, so it's the method that God chooses to meet us or reveal himself to us, and since it's the basic principle or the nature of God it should also be a guiding principle for us Christians," Chong said.

"Mercy reveals the very definite plan or the way, the method that God reveals himself to human beings."

"So we hope that everyone who enters through the door of mercy will be moved and empowered by God's mercy and become an agent of mercy too," he said.

Source

• fijitimes.com
• Image: fijitimes.com

The launching of the jubilee attracted Catholic faithful in Port Moresby who packed the Mary Help of Christians' shrine at Don Bosco Technological Institute (DBTI) for the Eucharist which was celebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Michael Banach.

Speaking to the congregation, the Nuncio highlighted the history of the Catholic Church in PNG and how it has been an authentic model to lead the people of God.

As part of the celebration, 5 Bishops representing the 4 regions of PNG and 1 from the diocese of Honiara in Solomon Islands were invited to share their experience and contribution of their region to the church in PNG, Solomon Islands and the universal church.

In 1844, Pope Gregory XVI erected the vicariate apostolic of Melanesia.

A vicariate apostolic is a mission territory under the pastoral care of a bishop.

The vicariate of Melanesia included the present Independent States of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

As the Catholic church grew the original vicariate was divided and new vicariates were established.

It was not until 15th November, 1966 that dioceses were established in Papua New Guinea and in the the Solomon Islands.

Port Moresby and Honiara were established as metropolitan archdioceses.

There are now 19 dioceses in Papua New Guinea and 3 in Solomon Islands.

Source

• wantokniuspepa.com
• Image: mw2.google.com

The last Pope to open the (cemented shut) Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica for an universal Extraordinary Jubilee was the future saint, John Paul II, in 1983: he promulgated the Jubilee to celebrate the 1950 years since the Redemption carried out by Christ through his Death and Resurrection in the year 33.

The word "Jubilee" comes from the Hebrew "Yobel" meaning "billy goat", in reference to the ram's horn used in religious celebrations. The Jubilee is the year of the remission of sins and of suffering from sin, of reconciliation, of conversion and of sacramental penance.

365 days of solidarity, hope, justice and commitment to serving God in the spirit of joy and peace with everyone.

Above all, however, the Jubilee Year is the year of Christ, the giver of life and of grace to humanity.

It is called "Holy Year" because it is celebrated with sacred rites and also because its mission is the holiness of human life.

The universal Jubilee can be: Ordinary, if it falls after a set period of years (generally 50 or 25 years); extraordinary if it is declared as a celebration of an event of outstanding importance; particular if it is limited to the inhabitants of a particular city, province or area.

Its origins date back to the Old Testament as the official website of the Holy See explains: "The Law of Moses prescribed a special year for the Jewish people: "You shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim the liberty throughout the land, to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family.

This fiftieth year is to be a jubilee year for you: you will not sow, you will not harvest the un-gathered corn, you will not gather the untrimmed vine. The jubilee is to be a holy thing to you, you will eat what comes from the fields."(The Book of Leviticus 25, 10-14).

The trumpet with which this particular year was announced was a goat's horn called Yobel in Hebrew, and the origin of the word jubilee. The celebration of this year also included the restitution of land to the original owners, the remission of debts, the liberation of slaves and the land was left fallow." Continue reading

Sources

• Vassallomalta
• Image: i-Italy