Bishop Keenan preached this homily on the Vigil of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Wednesday 13th September 2023, at a Mass during which he presented Monsignor Burke and Fr Black with Decrees from Pope Francis that appointed them as Missionaries of Mercy.

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Dear Brothers and sisters,

This evening we gather for the Vigil of the Feast of Exaltation of the Cross, observed in Rome since the seventh century. It commemorates the recovery of the Holy Cross by Saint Helena in Jerusalem and its restoration to Mount Calvary by the Emperor Heralius. The tradition recounts how as the Emperor carried the Cross clothed with costly garments adorned with precious stones, he found it impossible to move forward as he reached the Calvary Church. It was left to the old Bishop of Jerusalem to identify the problem and suggest the solution: "Consider, O Emperor, that with these triumphal ornaments you are far from resembling Jesus carrying His Cross." Divesting of his regalia and donning penitential garb, the Emperor found he was readily able to continue the journey. He learned that it is the sinner, needy of his mercy, who finds the surest way to His blessings.

In the First Reading from the time of Exodus, the LORD comes across His people in a troubled life situation which leaves them fractious, harassed and full of complaint. The LORD may have been entitled to meet fire with fire that brought them to their knees. But this is not the way of GOD and in the end they find only healing and consolation, from the One Who is raised up and Whom gazing upon they find new life and hope.

In the Gospel, Jesus reveals the heart of His own mission which is to come down from Heaven and bring to the world that Father’s love; a love that has such passion for the world that it wants none to be condemned or lost but every soul to find salvation and eternal life through Him.

It is this love of the Father, rich in mercy that Jesus entrusts to His Apostles when He breathes upon them the new life of the Resurrection and the peace of the Holy Spirit with the power to forgive sins. Even since then, this gift of the Father’s mercy has been precious to the Church and, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it has sought ever new and creative ways to extend GOD’s mercy especially to souls most in need.

In our days that breath of the Holy Spirit has given life to a wonderful new ministry in our priesthood though our Missionaries of Mercy, another two of who we commission this evening, and whom I now want to address.

Dear brothers, I firstly commend you on receiving this special ministry, one most dear in the life of the Church.

As Missionaries of Mercy, you enter into a precious brotherhood of chosen fellow priests from around the world, which was born out of the heart of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. You now take your place among ranks of priests recommended by their bishops, who have shown themselves to be living signs of the Father’s readiness to welcome all those searching for His pardon (Misericordiae vultus).

In that Jubilee Year your brothers were sent to dioceses around the world to preach, lead retreats and hear confessions. On that year’s Ash Wednesday they received from the Holy Father their mandate to be preachers of mercy and confessors full of the LORD’s compassion. Missionaries of Mercy, appointed exclusively by the Holy Father, were personally given his own unique faculty of forgiving reserved sins. So linked to the heart of the Holy Father was their commission that no bishop in his own diocese was able to appoint such Missionaries. Nor could their diocesan bishop confer on them faculties that he did not himself possess. In fact Missionaries of Mercy would forgive sins even their bishops could not forgive because in this commission they received from the Holy Father the authority to pardon sins reserved only to the Holy See.

Pope Francis revealed that this ministry is the one most close to his heart. So much so that he even included Missionaries of Mercy in his Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia "Praedicate Evangelium" that focused on the work of evangelization.

You, my dear brothers, are now part of the structure of the Church, as priests specially marked out as holy and merciful and ready to forgive. In this way you are particular witnesses around the world of the closeness of GOD’s love, mercy and forgiveness.

As Missionaries of Mercy you offer a special ministry of outreach through hearing confessions first of all, but also in finding new ways to proclaim, express and bring GOD's mercy to all. You are to be sign of the Father’s consolation to those most lost in this world so that they realise that GOD never forgets or abandons them. As GOD wants to come into the life of every human person with His love, you are invited to find and point out that presence in their lives. As Missionaries of Mercy, it is up to you, through your ministry, to give GOD a merciful voice and show His face of mercy. As your lives become sacraments of God's presence in often silent, discreet and simple ways, you will allow Him to reveal Himself in His people's most deeply felt needs. Your people will become reassured that they will find in you no harsh judgement when they come to you but instead leave you knowing you understood them fully. They will remember how you looked at them as they asked for forgiveness; how you saw into their heart and found hidden there a longing to return to the Father and to His House. In you they will find a blanket always ready to warm them as they come in from the cold and receive GOD's mercy and forgiveness. In you they will be sure GOD always, always forgives.

As Missionaries of Mercy, I hope you will have no scruple in being generous with GOD’s mercy, or in drawing close with His consolation to those who are sad and lonely, so that they truly see the merciful face of the Father in your gaze.

As Missionaries of Mercy, I hope you will never tire of forgiving those who come to you just as the LORD never tires of forgiving us.

Our thoughts now turn to Our Lady, the Mother of Mercy. May Her sweet countenance watch over you in your ministry, so that all poor souls can discover in you the joy of God’s tenderness. No one has penetrated the profound mystery of the incarnation like Mary whose entire life was patterned after the presence of mercy made flesh. May She, the Mother of the Crucified and Risen One who has entered the sanctuary of divine mercy and participated intimately in the mystery of His love, be a Mother to you as you spread far and wide and generously the love in the Gospel of Her Son and the heart of Our Father.