"To Free the Oppressed: Day Four of the Nine Days of Reflection and Prayer before the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux during the Jubilee of Mercy - Sunday, September 25, 2016"
icon by Robert Lentz
A Year of the Lord's Favor
In Misericordiae Vultus, Pope Francis writes:
Luke writes that Jesus, on the Sabbath, went back to Nazareth and, as was his custom, entered the synagogue. They called upon him to read the Scripture and to comment on it. The passage was from the Book of Isaiah where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to those in captivity; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Is 61:1-2). A “year of the Lord’s favour” or “mercy”: this is what the Lord proclaimed and this is what we wish to live now. This Holy Year will bring to the fore the richness of Jesus’ mission echoed in the words of the prophet: to bring a word and gesture of consolation to the poor, to proclaim liberty to those bound by new forms of slavery in modern society, to restore sight to those who can see no more because they are caught up in themselves, to restore dignity to all those from whom it has been robbed. The preaching of Jesus is made visible once more in the response of faith which Christians are called to offer by their witness.
Question: How is God callling me, my family, my faith community to console the poor, to free those bound by new forms of slavery, to bring new insight to those caught up in themselves, to restore dignity to those stripped of it?
The Biblical Jubilee
The Jubilee Year of Mercy is rooted in the ancient Hebrew tradition: every fiftieth year, debts were to be forgiven and those sold into slavery because of debt to be freed. Please read a little more about the biblical jubilee in America Magazine.
Mercy: To Liberate the Incarcerated
Although Pope Francis is not in a position to empty the jails, he shows the depth of his commitment to the imprisoned and the importance of the jubilee year to them in these lines from his letter of September 1, 2015 proclaiming the indulgence available in the Jubilee Year:
My thoughts also turn to those incarcerated, whose freedom is limited. The Jubilee Year has always constituted an opportunity for great amnesty, which is intended to include the many people who, despite deserving punishment, have become conscious of the injustice they worked and sincerely wish to re-enter society and make their honest contribution to it. May they all be touched in a tangible way by the mercy of the Father who wants to be close to those who have the greatest need of his forgiveness. They may obtain the Indulgence in the chapels of the prisons. May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each time they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their passage through the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an experience of freedom.
Question: Am I being called to reach out to the imprisoned? How can I make a merciful difference inthe lives of those who are incarcerated and those who are re-entering?
Mercy: To Free the Oppressed
Pope Francis also asks us, during the Jubilee, to meditate on this passage from Isaiah:
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” (58:6-11).
One day between 1894 and 1897 St. Therese received much light from this passage. She told her sister Celine that it applied not only to the physical but also to the spiritual needs of their neighbors. She said “We are surrounded continually by multitudes of souls in need, by weak souls and souls that are sick and oppressed. Oh! to relieve them of their burdens and send them away free!” She suggested that whenever someone talks to us about the faults of a third party, instead of agreeing with the speaker, we can gently point out a virtue of the absent one.
For Therese, to ‘share one’s bread with the hungry’ is to share yourself with those who do not know where to go, to make them at home in your life by giving up your own rest and ease. By loving words and a compassionate manner, we can free oppressed souls. “How tenderly we should not only love them but also show our love for them."
[My Sister Saint Therese, by Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face, O.C.D. Rockford, Illinois: reprinted by Tan Publishers, 1997].
Question: How is God freeing me of my burdens? How can I free others of theirs?
Time of Personal Prayer
Pray as the Holy Spirit leads you. Perhaps choose one of the three passages above; pray over it, and pause wherever your heart feels moved.
The Prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee
Click here to read the Prayer of Pope Francis.
Maureen O'Riordan
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Source: Misericordiae Vultus
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