{"id":794,"date":"2016-01-30T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stpeterstoronto.ca\/main\/?p=794"},"modified":"2016-11-22T15:29:04","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T20:29:04","slug":"the-year-of-mercy-an-invitation-to-discipleship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterstoronto.ca\/main\/2016\/01\/30\/the-year-of-mercy-an-invitation-to-discipleship\/","title":{"rendered":"The Year of Mercy\u2014 An Invitation to Discipleship!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jesus<\/a>Over the past two weeks, I was away visiting my parents at what has become their home in the United States. Now because I was born and grew up here in Toronto, and they did not move to the United States until I was finished university, I always feel like I am a visitor when I go down to visit them. In fact, I have never gotten used to the streets in the city where they live and the constant development in the area makes me feel like each visit is a visit to a new place. For that reason, I am very happy that they have GPS in their cars. Whenever I go anywhere on my own, I always set the GPS to my desired destination and rely on the good assistance of the person who speaks to me from that tiny little devise. Now as hard as I try to follow the good directions that I am given by the GPS, my parents live in a place where there are lots of fancy bridges and over-passes. I usually miss a turn here and there and inevitably go the wrong way. In fact, on occasion I am actually convinced that I actually know the correct way to go and ignore the GPS and head off on my own route.<\/p>\n

Now the thing I love about GPS is that it never gets mad at you. If I were driving with my father or one of my brothers and made the wrong turn they would ask me why I had ignored them and give me a big lecture about how I should have done what they had told me to do. If I continued to try and go my own way, they would become even more angry and insistent in the way they give their directions. There might even be some name calling. No matter what I do and how many wrong turns I make, the nice person inside the GPS always has the same pleasant response. Even if I have veered entirely off the path, the only thing that the person inside the GPS ever says to me is \u201cre-calculating.\u201d Not once has the GPS ever yelled at me or asked me why I keep ignoring it. The gentle response to each of my mistakes is simple: \u201crecalculating.\u201d<\/p>\n

It occurs to me that this is a beautiful image for what Pope Francis would like all of us to learn about God in this Year of Mercy<\/em>. Much of what Pope Francis is attempting to emphasize about God\u2019s mercy during this great jubilee year is that it is constant and always available to us no matter how far from God we might stray. No matter how far a person might stray from God, each time we turn to him he simply says \u201cre-calculating.\u201d God never wishes to condemn us, His only desire is that we should be saved and know His love for us. No matter how far from God a person has strayed, no matter how long a person has ignored God, the only thing that God desires to do for us is \u201cre-calculate\u201d our route back to him. This can be done through the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, by conversion or by leaving the wrong path that we have found ourselves moving down and returning to the path that leads to God. The only thing that God desires is that we might all be saved. In fact, perhaps we could say that mercy is God\u2019s GPS. In this case GPS stands for \u201cGod\u2019s Plan of Salvation\u201d for us all and mercy is the manner by which God is constantly \u201cre-calculating\u201d how we can find our way back to him from wherever we may find ourselves.<\/p>\n

Now as beautiful as this image is, there is one piece of information that is absolutely essential for making any type of GPS effective. That one piece of information is called a \u201cdestination.\u201d If I do not put an address into the GPS it cannot help me get to where I would like to go. Without a destination the GPS cannot help me \u201ccalculate\u201d or \u201cre-calculate\u201d the route that I need to take. This reality is also true in our relationship with God. God\u2019s plan of salvation is that we should all be lead to Him. His mercy is offered so that we might find our way back to Him, follow after Him, and remain with Him. God does not offer His mercy to give us permission to do whatever we wish and remain lost. Mercy is offered as a road-map back to God. Throughout the scriptures Jesus forgives every single person who approaches Him and asks for forgiveness. He does not deny forgiveness to anyone. Whether the person is a tax collector, a prostitute, a pharisee or one who has stolen a great deal of money, Jesus always forgives them and welcomes them back into His company. However, this forgiveness is always accompanied with one very important line: \u201cGo and sin no more.\u201d Jesus\u2019 mercy is offered to help people find their way back to Him. Unless Jesus and His teaching are the destination that is sought, mercy cannot bring us to the destination for which it is offered.<\/p>\n

This is the point that Pope Francis makes very clearly in his new book entitled \u201cThe Name of God is Mercy<\/em>.\u201d Here Pope Francis beautiful articulates how God\u2019s mercy is offered freely and generously so that all people may find their way back to God, no matter what. In this book he speaks beautifully about the fact that because we are all weak and sinners, each one of us has need of God\u2019s mercy to find our way back to God. God\u2019s mercy should assure all people that no matter how far away from God they might find themselves there is always a way back. The way back can be found through the Sacrament of Confession, conversion and the compassion of others. The Pope also warns Christians who have not strayed from the path that they should never place themselves above others or judge them righteously. He says that as Pope he understands that the only reason he has been spared a life different from criminals and others is because of God\u2019s mercy. All are to be welcomed back to God.<\/p>\n

And yet, while all people are welcome back to God, Pope Francis also makes it clear that conversion depends upon our making God our goal and our destiny. He speaks of the need to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the reality that at times if a person has not left a life of sin a confessor may have to deny absolution until the person is free to return to the Lord. However, Pope Francis makes it clear that when a priest is not able to give absolution he is to give a blessing and encourage the individual to remain hopeful and to know that he or she is loved by God. The priest is not to condemn the person. Pope Francis says that while mercy is always offered to us by God, we must acknowledge that we are sinners in need of God\u2019s love and God\u2019s mercy in order for it to be received. Mercy is the road by which we find our way back to God, but if we do not wish to return to God, it is offered in vain. The GPS can only help me if I have a destination and seek to arrive there. God\u2019s mercy is for those who want to return to God and seek to follow him. If God is not our destination, mercy cannot help us.<\/p>\n

It is important to make this clarification because it seems like many people are in danger of hearing only half of the message that the Pope is emphasizing in this Year of Mercy. <\/em>What so many people are hearing is the message that no matter where we are God offers us His mercy. The part that seems to be missing is that God offers us His mercy so that we might return to Him and become His disciples. Mercy is to be the road back to God. Unless we wish to follow Jesus, the offer of mercy does not help us to turn away from our sins to follow Christ and seek to \u201csin no more.\u201d Perhaps the best example of this hearing half the message is the Pope\u2019s often quoted \u201cWho am I to judge\u201d statement. What is never quoted is the first part of his sentence, which was \u201cIf a person seeks to follow the Lord, who am I to judge.\u201d The full sentence means that if a person seeks to follow the Lord, it does not matter where he or she has come from. God\u2019s mercy welcomes all who seek to follow. There are no barriers for those who leave their sin behind and seek to be Christ\u2019s disciples. God\u2019s plan of salvation does not judge us for where we have come from; it invites us to leave the past for the new life which Christ offers us. Mercy is not a license to do what we want and to make up our own rules. Mercy is an invitation to come from wherever we are, to follow Christ and become His disciples.<\/p>\n

The challenge which this Jubilee Year of Mercy<\/em> presents to discipleship is well presented in the Gospel readings of these last two weeks. Last Sunday we heard the beginning of the Gospel of Luke for this Liturgical Year. In last week\u2019s Gospel, Jesus picked up the scroll from the Prophet Isaiah and announced the Good News which marked the beginning of a Jubilee Year for the people of Israel. In this Good News, Jesus announced that He had come to bring Good News to God\u2019s people. He proclaimed: \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of the Lord\u2019s favour.\u201d This is the announcement of a Jubilee Year in which the people are to find the freedom to follow God, no matter who they are. This Sunday we hear their response to this Good News. The people look at Jesus and ask who He is to invite them to follow Him. Is He not the son of Joseph, did He not grow up in their home town? Why should they follow Him? As a result, He was unable to do any good works in His town. Refusing to believe that Jesus is God\u2019s Son, the people wish to stone Him. In the end, He simply walks away from them\u2014 unable to do any good works. They were excited to hear about the Good News, but when they heard that they had to follow Him and accept His offer of salvation, they were not interested in leaving the comfort of their lives.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Plan of Salvation (GPS) offers mercy to every single person who seeks to become a disciple of Jesus and to follow Him. To use the beautiful words of Pope Francis: If a person seeks to follow the Lord, God does not judge where we have come from.\u201d God\u2019s mercy is offered so that a route may be calculated or recalculated to God from wherever we might find ourselves. However, if God is not our destiny, His mercy cannot help us to find our way towards Himself. Any GPS devise only has value if we have a destination. God\u2019s mercy is intended only to hep us find our way to Him. It serves no purpose if God is not our destination. In this Year of Mercy<\/em>, it is important that we do not fall into the same trap as those who heard Jesus speak of the Good News of the liberty that He came to bring but did not want to follow Him. Jesus offers His mercy so that we might become His disciples. Mercy is the road to discipleship. If we are not interested in discipleship, God\u2019s mercy can do nothing for us. We find ourselves in the same situation as those in today\u2019s Gospel: The Good News is proclaimed, the road to salvation is pointed out to us, yet we refuse to leave the comfort of our lives\u2014 we refuse the invitation to discipleship.<\/p>\n

During this Year of Mercy<\/em>, the Church wishes to remind all of us that Jesus extends an invitation to every single human being to find salvation in Him. He invites all of us to follow Him no matter what our pasts might be. However, we are also reminded that mercy has a point of arrival and a destiny\u2014 that destiny is discipleship lived with Jesus as our Saviour. Jesus invites us to follow Him no matter who we are or what sins we may have committed. Mercy is the unconditional path of love that God offers to us. The Gospel this Sunday reminds us that if we do not follow and become His disciples, there is nothing God can do for us. God\u2019s Mercy must have a destiny. This destiny is a life lived as His beloved disciples. May we all be granted the grace this year to accept His mercy and to follow Jesus in discipleship from wherever we might come from.<\/p>\n

Fr. Michael McGourty
\nPastor, St. Peter\u2019s Parish -Toronto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Merciful Plan of Salvation","author":"stpeters","date":"September 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many scripture scholars have called the Gospel reading that we hear proclaimed today from chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, \u201cThe Heart of the Gospel.\u201d I almost think that today\u2019s Gospel passage has the same kind of content as the Christmas stories, as it speaks to us of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A Message from the Pastor"","block_context":{"text":"A Message from the Pastor","link":"https:\/\/stpeterstoronto.ca\/main\/category\/sunday_homilies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Decorative Image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stpeterstoronto.ca\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/prodical-son.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stpeterstoronto.ca\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/prodical-son.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Seamus Hogan and the parish staff for giving me a vacation and allowing me a break. It had been almost two years since I had a vacation and a chance to be away for more than a day or two. 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