Praise be to Jesus Christ.
- Forever and ever, Amen.
- It's not "Black on White", isn't it?
- No, it isn't, although each of us kept his cassock.
- That's true. But we are about to embark on a great adventure and we would like to invite you all to join us.
- A Roman adventure...
- Yes, a Roman adventure that we called "Misericordia et misera",
the same title that Pope Francis had given to his letter for the conclusion of the Year of Mercy.
- So maybe at the beginning of these spiritual exercises it would be worth asking one question:
Michał, do you recall the moment when you received the letter from Pope Francis?
That time, when Pope Francis wrote to tell you that he had a very special mission for you?
- No! He called me!
- Really? That's how it happened? - No, I'm only joking.
Well, I'm very envious!
- We all received e-mails, a very simple way of communicating.
Suddenly, an e-mail arrived, looking a bit like spam...
It was a very big surprise as I'd always imagined that if the Pope wants to ask a priest to do something,
the nonce would phone or they would send a bull with a big wax papal seal,
whereas these very simple means showed that the whole event,
that the letter was talking about, while taking a very ordinary form, would be at the same time really huge.
- But also, there came a message to our respective curiae, I remember my Provincial got me in a corridor,
before some celebration in our congregation, in the evening, the next day there were going to be some festivities, I cannot recall exactly what it was,
but the Provincial asked me to follow him out, into the corridor, and said to me
"Listen, you've become some kind of Vatican exorcist..."
- Yes, indeed, it is necessary to explain what it is all about..
- As nobody knew back then who were the Missionaries of Mercy...
- The Holy Father proposed to the whole Church, or should we say, he proposed to the whole world,
to celebrate the most beautiful thing that you find in God's heart,
the most beautiful characteristics of God's heart, which is precisely mercy.
The Holy Father decided, or discovered, that it was what we needed the most,
the experience of mercy, of love that is gratuitous, forgiving, that justifies, that raises you from your fall...
And that is why he wanted as well,
that many priests, in very many countries,
had the faculty to absolve the sins reserved before to the Holy See.
- But what is interesting, at the meeting with the Missionaries of Mercy on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday last year,
the Pope said that our first mission was to proclaim the Word
because if people do not receive the Word, they won't go to confession.
- I am very happy that you mentioned that meeting as we are now basically at the same place as then...
- Yes. I feel shivers down my spine because I remember all those priests,
almost a thousand, coming from all around the world,
walking along this street, via della Conciliazione,
to St. Peter's Basilica to pass through the Gate of Mercy, the Holy Door..
- ...which does open only when the Pope wants to show the world that God's heart is open.
And it was indeed so, when we came as pilgrims along this street
to stand in St. Peter's Basilica,
together with Peter of our times and to look at two extraordinary figures,
as in the basilica there were the relics
of St. Padre Pio and those of Leopold Mandić, two great confessors,
who, at the same time, are very very small, not only short, but also humble at heart.
- It's interesting, that one was very strict, and the other very gentle,
although both were Capuchins.
And someone observed, in a clever way,
that both were needed to show that balance and that wholeness...
We would like to sort of bring it out during these Roman exercises Misericordia et misera
and invite you to experience this journey with Pope Francis.
- And with us.
- And with us.
- It's very beautiful that the whole Year of Mercy is,
so to say, closed between two documents.
The first is the bull Misericordiae Vultus, which talks about the Pope's
wish that in the Year of Mercy the Church reveals her maternal face,
the face of a Mother. That was very surprising.
And the second document, at the conclusion of the Year of Mercy,
Misericordia et misera.
These two documents should guide us in our spiritual exercises.
- Let me disagree.
While the bull Misericordiae Vultus outlined the itinerary through the Year of Mercy,
the letter Misericordia et misera has not closed it at all, but rather opened the way after,
the life after the Holy Door has been closed.
The Pope is saying that,
although the Holy Door has been closed,
it does not mean that the time of Mercy had ended...
- One could say...
- Let me finish...
he's saying that Mercy is not an episode or a digression in the life of the Church,
but it is her life.
And the letter Misericordia et misera does not close anything,
but outlines something new, the life after, living Mercy every day.
- What you're saying is very beautiful and very convincing...
- That's good, we won't argue then...
- I think that it's really the case that after the coming of Jesus Christ,
after His sacrifice on the Cross,
after His Resurrection, after receiving the Holy Spirit,
every year is a Jubilee Year.
And every year is a Year of Mercy as in every moment,
every day we receive this great gift of Salvation
and Reconciliation with God and with ourselves.
And an additional proof for me and for you that
the Year of Mercy is not ending is probably the fact that the Pope said:
"Be Missionaries of Mercy until further notice",
in other words, do not stop fulfilling this ministry.
- It was an incredible surprise,
I wouldn't like to make it sound funny,
but I was at that time in Phoenix, in Arizona.
I was preaching during Advent spiritual exercises
and given an 8 hour time difference behind Poland
- I'm sorry for having had this thought but I really did
- at 4pm I thought that Michał Legan was already sad as he had ended his ministry as Missionary of Mercy
and I still had 8 hours to go!
Imagine, I waited until Midnight,
rejoicing and thanking God for the experience of the Year of Mercy,
which was really incredible,
an experience of God literally grabbing people from the streets,
non church goers, you probably experienced similar things...
- Yes, yes, the experience of deep personal conversion,
my conversion as well.
Seeing all those people discovering God's Mercy,
I also experienced how beautiful it was.
- And I continued praising God our Lord for that year
and thanking Him for Pope Francis till Midnight.
And at Midnight, with tears in my eyes,
I said to myself
"That incredible time of being a Missionary of Mercy
in the Jubilee Year came to an end
and tomorrow morning,
when I wake up, everything will be different".
- Normal...
- And so it was!
I got up in the morning, and in Poland it was already late afternoon,
and I saw my phone full of missed calls and messages.
I couldn't quite understand, what it was all about, what Misericordia et misera?
What letter Misericordia et Misera?
What was it all about to continue as a Missionary of Mercy?
What was going on?
And only when I phoned you,
you explained to me what was going on...
- I had a very similar experience to yours,
as I spent those last moments,
until the prayer of Apel Jasnogórski,
with a large number of priests who came to me
from all over Poland because they thought
that in the last day of the Year of Mercy
they had to grab that grace.
About fifteen or so priests came who wanted confession.
I went to Apel Jasnogórski and found out
that there was another one waiting to receive absolution
from a Missionary of Mercy in those last hours of the Year of Mercy.
And then an extraordinary thing happened...
Just like you, I went to the chapel just before Midnight,
I gave praise to God for giving us the Year of Mercy,
for the ministry of Missionary of Mercy
and I felt a slight relief.
I thought to myself, ok, we came to a closure,
God did what was possible through me
and now I am ready to give it back to Him...
I woke up in the morning and I got the message
about this beautiful letter and I have to say
that I had the great satisfaction in informing quite a few of the Missionaries of Mercy
about this immense gift.
So, brother,
the spiritual exercises about the misera,
about the woman....
- That miserable one...
- ...who needs God's mercy so much,
the woman with whom, I hope, we will all identify.
- We would like to invite you, dear all,
to make this journey through Misericordia et misera,
along the streets of Rome,
visiting places that we wish will make us think of Peter of our times,
of the Profet of our times,
of the great Pope that is Pope Francis,
right here, to dedicate this time to Him.
- We dedicate these spiritual exercises to Pope Francis.
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