Closing of the Door of Mercy
St Mirin’s Cathedral, Thirty Third Sunday, Year C, 2016
 
Dear brothers and sisters,
 
Today we gather to close our Holy Door and bring to a conclusion our Year of Mercy.  Pope Francis decreed that our Holy Year of Mercy would end on the Solemnity of Christ King with the closing of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s, Rome.  Today, the preceding Sunday, the Jubilee is brought to a close in all dioceses around the world with Mass celebrated by bishops in their cathedrals.  The Pope encouraged the bishops’ closest collaborators to concelebrate with him and so I am pleased we have our Cathedral Rector, Fr. Oliver Freney, concelebrating with me. 
 
All through this year we have been praying that God’s Divine mercy might reach everyone, both believers and those far away, to show us that God’s Kingdom really is already in our midst!  Looking back on the Jubilee year we are thankful that it has been such an extraordinary time of grace, and looking forward we now entrust our Church and our world to Jesus asking him to pour down his mercy on us like the dewfall so we can build a brighter future.
 
And so as we reached the end of this Jubilee Year of grace and mercy we raise our voices to our Heavenly Father with the Pope and with our brothers and sisters across the world in a hymn of praise for all the gifts he has given us in this special time.
 
Just as Jesus predicted to His apostles, the world of our own times will not always be an easy one.  In the Church not all is well, and just as Jesus was aware that the once glorious Temple in Jerusalem would see decline and be destroyed, we too have not escaped the sadness of seeing our own once busy parishes continue in steady decline.  Just as Jesus predicted earthquakes, famines and disasters, this year has seen famines in Africa and Haiti and earthquakes closer to home in Italy.  We live in a world of wars among nations where Christians are experiencing new persecutions, some even being put to death in barbarities not seen since ancient times.  Some of you put up with criticism, ridicule and indifference from your families for your faith in Jesus and your loyalty to the Church.  All of this Jesus predicted and He encouraged us not to be frightened, for it is something that must happen.
 
Into all of that this year of grace and mercy has brought us new consolation and hope.  It has given us fresh energy and opportunity to bear witness to our faith in the love of God which our world thirst for so much, and because we have spoken more of God’s mercy than His justice we have discovered an eloquence that no-one has been able to resist.
 
So while our world this year may have been to all appearances just like any other, one of tension and instability, of rancour and terror like a furnace burning up the nations, it has been at the same time a year in which countless souls have been touched by the greater mercy of God and have seen a new sun of righteousness shine out with healing in its rays. 
 
On the first days of his papacy Pope Francis stood at the balcony of Saint Peter’s in Rome and shared his sense that God was gently leading the world into a new age of mercy and he actually convoked the Year of Mercy to inaugurate this new era.  So even though we close our Door of Mercy of our cathedrals today we more than ever keep our merciful hearts wide open to our neighbours and we resolve to go on quietly working for a harvest of God’s mercy, indeed working night and day for it, slaving and straining, in order to make ourselves living witnesses of God’s love for others, especially the poor and the lost, to see and follow.
 
And finally we turn to Our Blessed Mother.  After Holy Communion we will sing the Magnificat, the Virgin Mary’s song of thanksgiving to the Lord for His mercy that extends to every generation and which She sang as She arrived at the home of Her cousin Elizabeth.  Singing Mary’s song we close our Door of Mercy with thoughts turned to Her, the Mother of Mercy, assured by Her promise that God’s same mercy reaches down to us too in our own generation.  Throughout the nine months when the child Jesus was in Her womb Mary treasured the beating heart of Divine Mercy inside Her very being and at the foot of the Cross She heard at first hand Her Son’s words of forgiveness for the world. So She knows better than anyone how God’s love can reach inside the heart of every needy soul, knows no bounds and extends to everyone without exception, and that is all we need to know to give us comfort and strength as we pass from this year of grace into an age of mercy, to be disciples of Our Lord, Jesus Christi, merciful like Our Father.