Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

X every religious experience, we find the most amazing aspect of merciful love. That love does not leave us prey to evil or to our own frailty;  it does not “forget”, but “remembers” , and draws near to every human misery in order to relieve it. Like a mother. Whatever the evil done by her child, a mother always sees past the sin to recognise the face she bore in her womb. In today’s ever more hectic and forgetful word, which leaves so many men and women behind as it races on, breathlessly and aimlessly, we need the oxygen of this gratuitous and life-giving love. We thirst for mercy and no technology can quench that thirst. We seek a love that endures beyond momentary pleasures, a safe harbour where we can end our restless wanderings, an infinite embrace that forgives and reconciles. How important this is, when we consider today’s widespread fear that it is impossible to be forgiven, rehabilitated and redeemed from our weaknesses. For us Catholics, among the most meaningful rites of the Holy Year is that of walking with humility and trust through the door – the Holy Door – to find ourselves fully recon- ciled by the mercy of God, who forgives our trespasses. But this demands that we too forgive those who trespass against us (cf. Mt  6:12), the brothers and sisters who have offended us. We receive God’s forgiveness in order to share it with others. Forgiveness is surely the greatest gift we can give to others, because it is the most costly. Yet at the same time, it is what makes us most like God. Mercy extends also to the world around us, to our common home, which we are called to protect and preserve from unbridled and rapacious consumption. Our commitment is needed for an education to sobri- ety and to respect, to a more simple and orderly way of life, in which the resources of creation are used with wisdom and moderation, with concern for humanity as a whole and coming generations, not simply the interests of our particular group and the benefits of the present moment. Today in particular, “the gravity of the ecologi- cal crisis demands that we all look to the common good, HH Pope Francis addresses representatives of different religions at the special interreligious audience, Sala Clementina of the Apostolic Palace, Vatican INTRODUCT ION – WITNESSES OF MERCY FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIAT ION