Becoming Missionaries of Mercy

Wednesday 12th March 2025

The beginning of our Lenten journey coincides with the Jubilee of the Missionaries of Mercy, presenting us with a wonderful opportunity to reflect on God’s boundless gift of forgiveness.

This March, we continue our Jubilee of Jubilees series by exploring the theme of mercy in relation to Lent and the traditions of Jubilee to better understand how we are called to respond in this holy year of grace.

The theme of forgiveness is one rooted at the very heart of our Christian faith; a beautiful gift offered to us through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a constant petition Jesus prompts us towards in the Our Father: “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

With these words, Jesus reminds us that forgiveness is not only a gift for us to receive from the Father, it is a two-way street: a gift we, too, must give to one-another in our call to be missionary disciples.

A Call to Act

The two short lines of this all-familiar prayer are so ingrained in our day-to-day prayer life that the weight of significance they carry can so often be overlooked.

Throughout the entirety of the prayer, each petition we bring to the Father is a request for something to be done; a plea to the Father to act.

But here, we see Jesus turning the tide as he places the action – for the only time in the prayer – firmly at our door with the words “we forgive”.

With these two short words, Jesus emphasises the importance of our willingness to forgive one another. As we place all else in the Father’s hands, this is one call to act that Jesus asks us to take upon ourselves; a mission of mercy inspired by God’s own forgiving nature.

In Response to the Father’s Mercy

This call to mercy, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, is exemplified by Jesus Himself on the cross, as he prays: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

Speaking during a General Audience in 2012, Pope Benedict said:

In this way, Jesus recognises our weaknesses and the difficulty we experience when it comes to forgiving one another, but he guides us to look to the Father as our model of mercy; an example to follow in how we can obtain the grace to be able to forgive.

The structure of those two lines of the Our Father echoes this, encouraging us to find hope and grace in the forgiveness we receive from God in order to forgive our neighbour.

But once again, Jesus is clear in regards to the significance of this task, presented to us with one tiny word: “as”.

This one word presents to us a colossal challenge: to forgive one another as much as God forgives us – no more and no less.

Inexhaustible Mercy

In Matthew’s Gospel (18:21-22), we see Jesus telling Peter that he must forgive “not seven but seventy times seven times”.

Biblically, the number seven is the number of completeness or perfection and so in this passage, Jesus once again reminds us of the magnitude of our mission: to forgive perfectly and completely, just as the Father forgives – without limit.

Furthermore, the use of sevens in this passage provides a remarkable link to the Jubilee themes of sevens – as the Holy Year of Jubilee would traditionally have taken place every 50 years, following the seven lots of seven years.

In this way, Jesus highlights to us how central the themes of mercy and forgiveness are to the concept of Jubilee – a time to wipe the slate clean and restore all relationship with God, each other, and all of creation.

With Jesus himself as the ultimate Jubilee, this beautiful passage reveals Our Lord to us as the very face of mercy; inexhaustible and boundless forgiveness that we are called to emulate through our call to be Missionaries of Mercy.

Join us over the coming weeks as we explore more about themes of mercy and the special graces open to us in this Holy Year of Jubilee. 

Tagged | Jubilee 2025 | Jubilee of Jubilees