Have You Entered through the Holy Doors? Profound Reasons to Make the Effort While There is Still Time

Open Wide the Doors of Christ!!! 

In this time of such deep division, confusion, hatred and violence.  God has given us the remedy.  For, "where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more" Romans 5:20.
Thus, let us never lose hope; but, instead, commit ourselves to receiving and pouring out all the grace that abounds in the Body of Christ during this Extraordinary Year of Mercy.

By entering through the Holy Doors, we are entering into not only into unfathomable realities, but we are tangibly responding to what St. John Paul II proclaimed in his first homily as Pope:

"Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows "what is in man". He alone knows it."

This Extraordinary Year ends this Sunday, November 20th on the Solemnity of Christ the King.  So, we only have a few days left to experience the grace of entering through the Holy Doors.

The Holy Doors are signs of this abounding grace and saving power of Christ in so many ways...

But to enter into this abounding grace, it is helpful to first understand this time of Jubilee.

During this Extraordinary Year of Mercy, every diocese has taken up to call to "open wide the doors of Christ!" They have responded by opening doors that are normally sealed in Cathedrals and other designated Churches so that they become Jubilee Doors - Holy Doors. 

Why?

Detail of the Holy Door at St. Peter's in Rome

The Holy Doors are a Sign of the Great Jubilee Year

It is a sign of the great Jubilee Year that God instructed His people to declare every 50 years in the Old Covenant. This Jubilee would mark a time of extraordinary mercy following the perfect number of years (Seven is known as the number of perfection in Scripture. Thus, we arrive at 49 years by multiplying seven years by seven).  

In the Jubilee year ( see Leviticus 25:8-13) the Mercy of God was particularly manifested as it granted liberty to all. Remitting all debts and giving God's people the ability to return to their own home and their own families, regardless of how they might have squandered them away in previous years. It was a year of rest of labor and considered a Sabbath of years that was holy, in which all were to eat of its increase! 

In light of this knowledge, it is apparent that this Extraordinary Year of Mercy is exactly that: extraordinary!  Pope Francis felt compelled to inaugurate a Jubilee without waiting for another 50 years to come around again, proclaiming in his teaching the preeminence of Jesus as God's Mercy incarnate:  

Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its culmination in him. 

Detail of Holy Door at St. Mary Major in Rome

Detail of Holy Door at St. Mary Major in Rome

We have been living in this time of extraordinary grace and mercy (perhaps without realizing it) since December 8th, 2015. This year has been a sign for us to cling to Christ and the Mercy He has won for us.  And by doing so, we are to be assured that God is more powerful than the sin and evil that is so prevalent in our world. 

So, what's the big deal about going through Holy Doors?  

After this Sunday, we can't enter through Holy Doors... Why is it important?

And why doors?  It seems like an odd way to show forth God's grace and mercy. 

Actually, these same questions are ones that I've asked myself.  So, I've prayed for wisdom  so that I could enter more fully into this gift the Church has given us.

The Holy Doors Reveal Deep Scriptural Insights

As I prayed, I began to realize how deeply scriptural the Holy Doors are!  The Scriptures not only give us understanding regarding the Holy Doors themselves, but provide profound opportunities to contemplate Christ as we enter through them:

1. Jesus spoke about being the "Door" when He said HE is the ONLY way to the Father, saying:

"I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me!" John 14:6

It is only through and in Christ that we have access to a relationship with the God of all creation.  It is in Jesus alone that God is revealed to us as the most Merciful of Fathers. Who, while we were still a long way off, catches sight of us and comes running to embrace us and restore to us everything that sin has tried to rob us of -- not only our birthright, but also our Father's daily provisions and most importantly, our relationship with Him as His sons and daughters!

2. "I am the sheep gate. Whoever enters through me shall be saved..." John 10:9

It is profound to comprehend there were no doors to keep the sheep from wandering in Jesus' time... the shepherd would lie across the opening and become, himself, their door of safety and protection.  He was the shield that would keep evil from his flock. 

The Holy Doors Are A Tangible Sign of Untold and Beautiful Realities

St. John writes of his visions of heaven, saying: "I had a vision of an open door to heaven..."  Rev. 4:1

How profound to realize that by entering through the doors of the Catholic Church, we enter into the mystery of heaven present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! 

If we had eyes to see, we would see that every Catholic Church is itself an open door to heaven, in which we are lifted up in the Spirit! Where, in the Mass and in the Sacraments, the great cosmic battle between God and Satan for our souls is won for us in the One, Eternal, Perpetual offering of the Son to the Father that transcends all space and time. In the Mass, we encounter the One Who lives to constantly intercede for us (cf. Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34)!

The Holy Doors Physically Express God's Opening Heart of Mercy

Secondly, God loves to use ordinary things to show forth the extraordinary love He has for us! He desires that His love is tangible -- that it is touchable to our senses.  

For the most extreme example -- think of bread and wine becoming His very Body and Blood.
Or water being the sign of Baptism, bringing forth cleansing and new life in which we become tabernacles of God Most High, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Or the fact that we, as his adopted children, are called to be His Living Presence -- His hands and feet, as well as His priests, prophets and kings --here on earth!

This is the reason Pope Francis placed a sign outside of the Holy Doors of St. Peter's, which reads: 

"As you pass through the Holy Door remember that Jesus is the door who introduces you to the embrace of God's mercy. "

Thus, if we are in the Spirit, by going through the Holy Doors we enter through the heart of Christ into the Arms of Our Merciful Father, Who is ever ready to forgive us!

It is good to ponder the profound depth of this Mystery:
By entering through the doors, we are physically invited to enter into the very Heart of Christ, pierced out of love for us. We are called to be washed by the blood and water that pours forth as a fountain of life and grace for our souls, which opens the way to the Father and pours forth the Holy Spirit in our hearts, so that through Him, with Him, in Him we can renew the face of the earth!

The Holy Doors Are Symbolic Of Our Response To God's Unfathomable Mercy. 

By entering through the doors, we are tangibly invited to open wide the door of our hearts, minds and wills to receive the Mercy that Jesus suffered, died and rose from the dead to give us.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me"  Rev. 3:20.

Jesus has won our freedom, but it is up to us to respond and to accept the embrace of the Merciful Father and allow Him to shower gifts of sonship and so enter into relationship with Him! We do this by returning home to Him with a humbled and contrite heart seeking only to give ourselves as an offering to Him. 

Lastly, They Signify God's Desire To Heal The World Through Us!

Remember, God wants to make use of His creation to proclaim His love - to be a tangible, physical sign of His power and grace! He tells us:  "All I have is yours."  Lk 15:31 

And it is exactly in receiving all He has that we are given the means to give. It is in being loved that we are able to love. It is in receiving Mercy that we are able to be mercy for others. 

Thus, the act of going through Holy Doors is not meant to be a selfish act of receiving only mercy for ourselves, but an action that in time will lead us to long to live the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.  It is meant to be an action that pleads for the grace of Jesus' Sacrifice to pour upon souls to quench the fires of violence and hatred that Satan is stirring up within us and among us.  We must never lose sight that we are fighting a supernatural battle that is a result of sin, division and confusion that stems from rejecting of God's Mercy and His Truth.  So, we hold fast to the supernatural means of grace and the power of prayer to open hearts to receive and be transformed by the infinite tenderness and love of God!

Of course, the Doors of Mercy closing isn't a sign of God's Mercy ending for us. 

But, by receiving this extraordinary grace, we are able to pour out His Mercy in a unique way to the suffering Church in all its forms.

Going through Holy Doors during this Jubilee of Mercy has been something deeply meaningful to ponder and even more profound to experience.

I was able to enter through Holy Doors not only in my home diocese, but throughout Rome and Italy this past Spring. (You can read about my pilgrimage during this Year of Mercy here).

It is because I have had these extraordinary experiences, I feel compelled to share this opportunity with you while there is still time.

So, please consider taking a minute or two to locate a Holy Door in your area and make a plan to enter through it.  Do it not just for yourself, but to help God pour forth His Mercy on our families, on the poor souls in purgatory, on our nation and on the world! 

I promise, you'll never regret it! 

(You can pray with Pope Francis using the prayer he wrote for this Jubilee here.)

© 2016 Janet Moore. All photographs and all words are the sole property of Janet Moore. All Rights Reserved.

Padre Pio and My Pilgrimage of Mercy

I was privileged to go to Rome this spring on pilgrimage.

I went with my fellow Padre Pio prayer group members to witness Padre Pio being named  “Apostle of Mercy” for this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

We came at the invitation of Pope Francis, who invited all Padre Pio Prayer Group members from around the world to come to a private audience for the ceremony.

(Who knew there were 400 million prayer group members?  And 60,000 would end up coming to the same private audience?)

We had many incredible experiences – some deeply personal and private – but the core of each experience I had on that pilgrimage, (really the core of each experience of God I’ve had in my entire life), can be summed up as an experience of Mercy.

How can we understand God's Mercy and how do we experience it, because His Divine Mercy is manifested on multiple levels and in innumerable ways?

Truly, the fact that even the universe, (or this planet that we live on), exists at all is due to the gracious kindness of a God who seeks to shower us with love. Not out of any need on His part, but as an expression of Who He is! This God of Love, cannot help but be loving, creating and continually pouring out Himself in endless wonders and beauty! And the culmination of all His creation is humankind - us! Imagine!

I know it’s hard to fathom when we are barraged with so many lies, both outside and within, that tell us 'that just ain’t so'!  Many travel literally around the world, spending thousands to see the wonders that God has created – and they are glorious!!!!!  Think of the Grand Canyon, the Tuscan countryside, or the isles of Greece – yet, they are nothing in comparison to a human being - for we are "created in His Image and Likeness" (cf. Gen 1:27)!!!! So often we fail to see the beauty looking back at us in the mirror – the beauty and the glory of our own creation. Scripture tells us all will pass away-- all save one creation of God – us!  For while our bodies will turn to dust, our souls have been created immortal! 

When God created us He breathed into us life, intelligence and a will – giving each of us the ability to freely choose Him and recognize Him as our creator or not. Because He is ever-giving, life-giving Love, it is His essence to pour forth Goodness, Beauty, Truth and Glory upon us -- we --who are the crown of His creation (cf. Gen 1: 29-31)  -- even to giving each of us a guardian angel to care for us and to bring us joy! Isn’t this Mercy?!

So often we miss God's goodness as we busy ourselves as we struggle and fight to accumulate more, to make more money, to achieve more… or we neglect God and relationships because it is takes too much work and interferes with our comfort and ease.  Yet, all that will remain is God and the human beings in our paths that we so often overlook and dismiss. So often we judge each other and ourselves as unattractive, unworthy, unacceptable or not worth our time... So many times we can’t see the glorious beauty of God’s creation that is right in front of us! For each of us is a completely unique, unrepeatable masterpiece who expresses God in a way no other soul ever has or will!  

Linger over this  -- ponder this -- and ask God to reveal to You this Truth.  It is something that we can never fully fathom this side of eternity.  It is something we must grow deeper in knowledge of every day as we endure everything around us (and Satan's voice within) that tells us otherwise.  But, to grasp onto this Truth even a little is life changing!  

In the face of this tremendous Truth, how it must pain Our Father, Our Savior and Our Advocate to see us belittle and judge each other and ourselves after He created us in His Image, became man so that we could become sharers of His divinity, and most marvelously, suffered an excruciating death to redeem us and then humbled Himself even further to become food for us!  So He can "remain with us always unto the end of time" (Mt 28:20) and so WE CAN BECOME ONE BODY with Him both NOW and FOREVER in Heaven!

The word Mercy literally means: misericordia - Misery Heart. A Heart of Misery. A Heart that is miserable in that it feels our pain, and bears our sins and its punishments out of love for us.  It is a heart that desires to be loved as it has loved. A Heart that is miserable when we reject Him. 

To describe this love to us, Jesus revealed that His Heart is burning and on fire to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, saying:

Behold this Heart which has so loved men, that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself in order to testify to its love.  In return, I have received from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and their sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this sacrament of Love.

Similarly as members of His Body, St. Paul said, "We make up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ" (Col 1: 24).  Not because anything was lacking in Christ's ultimate sacrifice, but because the suffering of Christ lacks our participation in it for the redemption of the world!  How incredible is that?! 

We are designed not only to be a reflection of God, but to also be co-redeemers with him!  

Yet, so often we feel the exact opposite.  Because I know the depth of my sinfulness, it is extremely easy for me to judge myself.  I get caught up in shame of what I’ve done and what I’ve failed to do. The times my words have hurt and killed another and the times I’ve been neglectful of those in my care!  How easily do I hear and accept the words of Satan condemning me – telling me I’m no good or that what I’ve done and the mistakes I’ve made are beyond repair (after tempting us to sin in the first place). How often do I fail to trust in God's love and forgiveness of me?

It's this terrible pit of darkness, self-condemnation and regret that Satan prepares for us and tempts us to stay locked into -- that's exactly the opposite of what God wants us to give us.  He understands our weakness and therefore, became sin to conquer it and to free us from its slavery and punishments.   If we can open ourselves even a little, God’s Mercy reaches in to save us. We don’t deserve it. We don’t earn it. Yet, still He cannot but help to freely give it, for that is Who He is!

He could not stand by as sin enslaved us and led us to live eternally separated from Him. In the face of the horror of sin and its mortal consequences, God does "rend the heavens and comes down" (Is 64: 1) to not only save us, but to become ONE with us in all things save sin! (cf Heb. 2: 17; GS 22.2). God’s Mercy is not only expressed in Jesus, it is Incarnate in Him. He is the full expression of God's Mercy manifested to us! He is Mercy enfleshed, so much so, that it even His Name, Jesus, which means, “God saves!” (CCC 430). Jesus is the “Face of the Father’s Mercy” as Pope Francis told us at the beginning of this Jubilee year! For God IS Love and Mercy itself!!! (Diary 1074). Evident in the fact that Jesus, in response to being crushed, broken and pierced by our sins, looks on us with tenderness and compassion! Even in the midst of our darkness – even while we are hammering nails into His hands and feet – even when we mock and deride Him, He cries out in prayer and love for us: "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do!"(Lk 23:34). 

Stay with this image for awhile and ponder this!  Allow yourself to hear Jesus speak these words to you. 

What wondrous love is this????

What incredible good news, for"God demonstrates His great love for us through this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5: 8).

This Jesus, this God of unfathomable Mercy, is Whom Padre Pio fell in love with and Whom He gave his life to. He let Jesus “have the run of him” and who could ever imagine all God would do in His life? From bearing Jesus’ wounds as visible marks in his body for 50 years, to bilocating, to healing, to being able to read souls… But, it was for none of those things that Pope Francis chose him as an Apostle of Mercy – rather, he spoke about his life of prayer and his dedication to pouring forth God's Mercy through the Sacrament of Confession –at times up to 19 hours a day!  Imagine! 

The Pope said of Padre Pio at the audience: “Through “the apostleship of listening” ...[in] the ministry of Confession he became the living caress of the Father, who heals the wounds of sin and revives the heart with peace." [emphasis mine].

Do we experience this in the confessional? Do we believe we are truly forgiven and made new? If we don't, is it because we are believing the lies of Satan, who seeks to identify us with our sin and our failures, instead of realizing we have been made children of the Almighty Father at our baptisms? (cf. Eph 1: 4-5).

Jesus told St. Faustina, 

Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down up on your soul… Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust.  If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. (Diary, 1602).

Do we trust Him? If not, let us ask ourselves why and consider what more He could have done to prove His love for us?!

"How painfully distrust of My goodness wounds Me! Sins of distrust wound Me most painfully" (Diary, 1076). 

The Pope continued: 

[Padre Pio] was able to do this because he was always connected to the source: he ceaselessly quenched his thirst with Jesus Crucified, and thus became a channel of mercy.  He bore in his heart many people and many sufferings, uniting it all to the love of Christ … living the great mystery of sorrow offered up in love. In this way his little drop became a great river of mercy, which brought water to many deserted hearts and created oases of life in many parts of the world.  

What could God do with "our little drop" if we refuse him nothing?  What could God do with us if we completely trust in Him, "Who is mighty to save"(Is 63:1) and "whose Mercy is endless and whose compassion inexhaustible"? If we enter into this Mercy that is offered to us in every confession (and allow ourselves to receive it) it changes us!  It transforms us – pouring light and healing and forgiveness onto the darkness, sickness, the ugliness and the death caused by our sin -- even unto making us a "new creation"... for"the old has passed away" (2 Cor 5:17) – we are to remember our sins no more!  We are forgiven and freed!!!!! 

What if we never tire of running to Jesus in prayer as Padre Pio did– looking beyond ourselves to Christ Who is looking upon us with compassion and tenderness?

What if we LIVED a life of prayer (even when we don't feel like it - even in our darkest hours -- even in the midst of great pain and doubt)?

The Holy Father continued his address to us with these words:

Padre Pio used to say prayer is a “force that moves the world”… it is not a nice practice for finding a little peace of heart; nor is it a means of devotion for obtaining useful things from God. Were is so, then it would be an act of subtle selfishness….No… it is something else… it is instead a spiritual work of mercy, which means bringing everything to the heart of God…it is a relationship.. it is an intercession needed just as bread is… it is as Padre Pio like to say “the greatest weapon we have, a key that opens the heart of God”… it is the Church’s greatest strength, one which we must never let go of, for the Church bears fruit only if she does as did Our Lady and the Apostles, who “with one accord devoted themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14)… Padre Pio, who called himself “a poor brother who prays”, wrote that prayer is “the highest apostolate that a soul can exercise in the Church of God” (Epistolario II, 70). 

It is only in prayer that we can see ourselves as we truly are – which is similar to saying we are able to see ourselves as the Father sees us. It is also only in prayer that we can begin to see others in the same way and respond to their needs as the Father calls us.

Lord, help me to pray!  Help us to pray and so see You look upon us with such love and forgiveness that it transforms us, because we who "have been forgiven much, love much!" (Jn 7:47).  This experience then leads us into a life You created us to have, for You tell us: “I have come so that you will have life and have it to the full!” (Jn 10:10).

If we, too, like Padre Pio, live in prayer - "ever connected to God" - how much more could we reflect the LOVE you have for us and so in turn love one another as You first loved us? By opening ourselves to the LIFE and GRACE of our All Powerful Trinitarian God, Who loves us more than we can fathom, what more could God be able to do with us?

What could we do for the world if we lived this union with God in prayer: 

"Who is able to do infinitely more than we could ask for or imagine"(Eph 3:20)?  How would our world be changed?

What if we, too, answered Jesus' call to us and became Apostles of Mercy? What if the fate of the world depending on it? 

Dear Jesus, through the intercession of Padre Pio, help us to experience your love so we can love ourselves and others in the same way you love us. Help us to give you free reign in our lives so that You"can live and move and have your being"in us (Acts 17:28).  

Help us to more fully enter into this Year of Mercy -- this time of Extraordinary Grace and Mercy -- and through the "force that moves the world" - through prayer -  may we help bring forth torrents of Divine Mercy (of healing and grace and conversion) upon the world! 

May we, through “the greatest weapon we have, a key that opens the heart of God” help You save the world!  

Let us begin! 

Let us begin again each time we falter. And then, begin again and again... 

"For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jer 29:11).

Janet Moore © 2016. All Rights Reserved.