The Jubilee Year of Mercy & Hawaii's Holy Door!

"No one can be excluded from God's Mercy..."

~ Pope Francis

Excitement was in the air as Pope Francis proclaimed the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy beginning on December 8th, 2015 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception), and ending on November 20th, 2016 (Solemnity of Christ the King).  In conjunction with his proclamation, the Pontiff opened the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica, as a symbolic gesture of opening wide the doors of the Church to invite all mankind to come to the saving Mercy of Jesus Christ.  

The opening of the Holy Door in the Vatican.

Jubilees or "Holy Years" are biblical in origin - see Leviticus 25: 10-14 - and mark a special period of time in the Church, emphasizing the forgiveness of sin and the remission of the resulting punishment incurred.  Beginning in 1300, when Pope Boniface VIII announced the very first Holy Year, the Church has since promulgated it every 25 to 50 years.  In the distant past, multitudes of pilgrims made difficult foot journeys to Rome as penance for their sins... and to gain a rare Plenary Indulgence - the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to sin - associated with each Holy Year (learn more about Indulgences here).

As for the Holy Door, the tradition started in 1500 and the door was meant to represent Jesus Christ, who referred to himself, as such, in Sacred Scripture:

"Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep."

~ John 10:7

The Holy Door is normally bricked up in the interior of St. Peter's Basilica but during special Jubilee Years, the Pope would ceremoniously unseal and open the door so pilgrims could prayerfully walk through it.  The ritual of passing through the Holy Door was a highly symbolic act; denoting one's willingness to walk away from sinfulness and into a life of grace through Jesus Christ.

          

Hawaii's own Holy Door in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu.

A Divine Mercy image and portraits of Hawaii's two Saints flank the door.

With his announcement of this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has gone even further - he extended the Plenary Indulgence attached to the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica to dioceses throughout the world by authorizing Bishops to designate Holy Doors in their own local Cathedrals!  Here, in Hawaii, our Bishop Larry Silva recently inaugurated a Holy Door in the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.

All Catholics - locals and visitors to Hawaii - are invited to take advantage of this year-long celebration of Divine Mercy by walking through Hawaii's Holy Door.  An immense spiritual gift awaits all who do.  One must keep in mind, however, that to gain the Plenary Indulgence, one must meet the following requirements:

"Mercy is the very foundation of the Church's life.  All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy.  The Church's very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love."

~ Excerpt from the Papal Bull of Pope Francis

Year of Mercy Prayer

composed by Pope Francis

Lord Jesus Christ,

you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,

and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.

Show us your face and we will be saved.

Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;

the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;

made Peter weep after his betrayal,

and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.

Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that

you spoke to the Samaritan woman:

“If you knew the gift of God!”

You are the visible face of the invisible Father,

of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:

let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.

You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness

in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:

let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.

Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,

so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,

and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,

proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,

and restore sight to the blind. 

We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,

you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Amen.