The Year of Mercy - What's in it for Singles?

32

On December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis will launch the Year of Mercy. I hope your next question is, What's in it for me?

Because it's all about you, you know. Mercy is not some abstract ideal. God wants to be merciful to YOU.

In a practical, real time way.

Just look at the launch date. December 8th. That's the day God said, "Check this out." (I paraphrase.) "I'm going to make the perfect mom for my Son and then He's going to share her with the whole world. That way the world gets a loving Father and a loving Mother!"

The Pope picked that date to remind us that "God did not wish to leave humanity alone."

Ponder those words. Do you believe that? You may be a Catholic and (Catechism talk ahead) "fully assent to it with your intellect and will." But do you feel that God does not leave you alone? Or do you sometimes feel like this guy who commented:

"I know Jesus loves me and all that jazz, so why doesn't He DO something?"

If the comment boxes are any indication, that guy speaks for a lot of people. But it's not only singles who feel that way, it's anybody who carries a burden. Even the most stalwart believers among us hit a low point when we wonder if God really cares about us. Why do other people seem to have what we need? Has God forgotten us?

Guess what? The Pope understands.

Love, after all, can never be just an abstraction. By its very nature, it indicates something concrete: intentions, attitudes, and behaviours that are shown in daily living.

That's what the Year of Mercy is all about.

This is the year the Pope wants you to focus on what God is going to do for you. And it's something concrete for your daily life.

He is going to give you a job. He is going to make you—if you are willing—His missionary of mercy.

At times we are called to gaze even more attentively on mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father’s action in our lives. For this reason I have proclaimed an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy as a special time for the Church, a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective.

Perhaps this is not what you expected to hear. You thought you were going to get something. You are.

You will receive the opportunity to work alongside Him to help others get to heaven. You will meet interesting people—whether online or in person—and you will recognize that they are all in the same struggle as you are, the struggle for their very souls. You will realize that every person was made for intimate union with God, and that that is their deepest longing even if they don't know it. Your perceptions will sharpen and you will see that even the most confident and seemingly gift wrapped among us carry a cross. You will help them carry it, just as Simon of Cyrene helped carry the cross of Jesus.

And in so doing, you will find your own cross lighter and easier to carry.

Do you want the job? The hours are long, but the work is exciting, and the pay is excellent.

Sometimes it's going to feel good. Like when you smile and greet the gloomy person at the deli counter instead of just saying, "Gimme a pound of baloney." She perks up and smiles back.

Sometimes it's going to be inconvenient. Like when a Jehovah Witness cold calls you and you find out he's a hostile ex-Catholic so you blow your Saturday morning talking things out with him.

Sometimes it's going to be complicated. You thought the JW thing was complicated? How about dealing with your own family members who haven't been to Mass in 20 years? How do you stay friends with them and with God and keep your own ego bound, gagged, and stuffed in the trunk of your car?

Sometimes it is going to hurt. Really hurt. Like when someone is a jerk to you and isn't sorry and you forgive them anyway.

At times how hard it seems to forgive! And yet pardon is the instrument placed into our fragile hands to attain serenity of heart.

Serenity of heart. God is so like that. "Here, do this thing you hate. You'll love it!" (Paraphrasing again.) Didn't Simon refuse to help Jesus carry His cross at first? "Get somebody else. I don't want to get involved."

Then it completely transformed him and he became Saint Simon.

The Year of Mercy is the year the Church emphasizes that we are called forth out of ourselves to receive the tremendous honor of helping others carry their burdens. A good start is this handy list of Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. But it's not just a list. It's a state of mind. It's message is: Don't wait to be loved. Make the first move. Love others first.

That's when you realize that God has loved you all along. You could do nothing if He had not loved you first. His love is not an abstraction. It's not all that jazz. It's His very self.

Will you accept Him and carry Him with you to others?

Find Your Forever.

CatholicMatch is the largest and most trusted
Catholic dating site in the world.

Get Started for Free!CatholicMatch
— This article has been read 5668 times —