Denver Catholic

3 DENVER CATHOLIC | MARCH 21-27, 2015 Vatican Notes 458 Uinta Way ∙ Denver, CO 80230 ∙ (303) 344-0082 ext. 117 Check-in begins at 7:00pm on Saturday, April 25, 2015. The retreat ends at 7:00am on Sunday, April 26, 2015. Registration deadline: April 1, 2015 Register online at www.machebeuf.org/admissions. Space is limited to the rst 100 registered students. $25 participation fee due at check-in. Open to all public and private school students. 7 th GRADE LOCK-IN Visit www.ourladyoightmonastery.com for information on making tax deductible donations or to purchase Clarisa's cookies, or call 303-458-6339. Help us build a house for Our Lady of Light!! Only 200 tickets will be sold; tickets are $150 each. Each ticket admits two to the event. Call 720-227-1177 for complete details. Please join us for Dinner & Dancing Saturday, April 25, 2015 - 6:00 p.m. PPA Event Center, 2105 Decatur St., Denver Silent Auction and a Reverse Ra e for fabulous prizes including the GRAND PRIZE – one week at Casa Amigos de Corazon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for up to 8 people PLUS $1,000 in airfare!! Proceeds to bene‚t the building fund for the Monastery of the Capuchin Poor Clare Sisters D uring a penance service March 13 in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Fran- cis called for an extraordinary jubilee "that is to have the mercy of God at its center." The mercy jubilee—which will run from Dec. 8, 2015 through Nov. 20, 2016— is to be lived in light of Christ's directive, "Be merciful, just as your Father is mer- ciful" (Lk 6:36). For those unfamiliar with the passage in Luke's Gospel, it comes right after "love your enemies" and right before "stop judging and you will not be judged." Pope Francis explained that the Holy Year of Mercy will be the catalyst for "spiritual conversion" so that the Church can journey together toward making clear "its mission of being a witness to mercy." "No one can be excluded from the mercy of God" the ponti' said. "Its doors remain wide open, so that those who are touched by grace can fi nd the certainty of forgiveness. "The greater the sin, so much the greater must be the love that the Church expresses toward those who convert." The announcement came on the second anniversary of his election to the pontifi cate, and during the "24 Hours for the Lord" confession and Eucharistic adoration event taking place in partici- pating parishes around the world. "[God] really is 'rich in mercy,'" Pope Francis assured those present, noting that he "extends his mercy with abun- dance over those who turn to him with a sincere heart." To drive the point home, the Holy Father o' ered a refl ection on Luke's account of the sinful woman (7:36-50), in which he underlined two words: "love and judgment." The love comes from the sinful woman, "who humbles herself before the Lord," the pope stated. "But fi rst there is the merciful love of Jesus for her, which pushes her to approach." "Love and forgiveness are simultane- ous," he added. "God forgives her much, everything, because 'she loved much.'" "This woman has really met the Lord," the Holy Father refl ected. "In silence, she opened her heart to him; in pain, she showed repentance for her sins; with her tears, she appealed to the goodness of God for forgiveness. "For her, there will be no judgment except that which comes from God, and this is the judgment of mercy. The pro- tagonist of this meeting is certainly the love that goes beyond justice." On the other side of the spectrum there is Simon the Pharisee, who "cannot fi nd the path of love." "He stands fi rm upon the threshold of formality," explained the ponti' . "He is not capable of taking the next step to go meet Jesus, who brings him salvation. Simon limited himself to inviting Jesus to dinner, but did not really welcome him. "In his thoughts, he invokes only justice, and in so doing, he errs. His judg- ment on the woman distances him from the truth and does not allow him even to understand who his guest is. He stopped at the surface; he was not able to look to the heart." "The call of Jesus pushes each of us never to stop at the surface of things, espe- cially when we are dealing with a person," Pope Francis said. He encouraged the faithful to "focus on the heart," and on the person's capacity of "generosity." EVANGELIST OF MERCY The Pontifi cal Council for the New Evangelization has been charged with organizing the Jubilee of Mercy, which will begin with the opening of St. Peter's Holy Door on Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. In a note accompanying the announce- ment, the council revealed that the day is also the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. It will conclude Nov. 20, 2016, with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, whom Pope Fran- cis called the "living face of the Father's mercy." During the Jubilee, the Sunday read- ings for Ordinary Time will be taken from the Gospel of Luke, the one referred to as "the evangelist of mercy." The o¤ cial and solemn announcement of the Holy Year will take place on Divine Mercy Sunday, which falls every year on the Sunday after Easter. Need a Mercy Year? BY KARNA SWANSON 303-715-3230 karna.swanson@archden.org www.twitter.com/KarnaSwanson "St. Peter Penitent" by Guido Reni, 1600. COURTESTY OF WIKIART.ORG

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