THE
P RTAL
December 2015
Page 6
Spirituality Matters
The Year of Mercy
and Holy Doors
Antonia Lynn reminds us of the Holy Father’s words
Iwas all
ready to send my piece for this month’s Portal. Then I heard the Holy Father’s address at this
week’s General Audience and decided I couldn’t do better. So, with no apology, here in full is the English
summary of his words:
‘As the extraordinary Holy Year of
Mercy approaches, today we consider
the great open door of God’s mercy,
symbolised by the Holy Doors which
will open in churches throughout
the world. The recent Synod of
Bishops on the Family encouraged
families in a particular way to enter
this door of mercy and to open the
doors of their hearts to others. Jesus
tells us that he stands knocking at our
door, asking that we open it to him
(Revelation 3:20). How important it is
for us to be good doorkeepers, capable of
opening our doors and making our homes
places of encounter and welcome, especially to
our brothers and sisters in need! Jesus also tells
us that he himself is the door (John 10:9) which
leads to salvation; if we pass through him, we will
find lasting security and freedom. As guardians
of that door, we in the Church are called to be
welcoming to all who seek to enter the fold of the
Good Shepherd. May the doors of our Christian
homes be signs and symbols of the door of God’s
mercy, a door ever open to all who knock and
desire to meet Jesus.’
In the full Italian version of his catechesis, Pope
Francis spoke more strongly: ‘the Church is a shelter,
not a prison… An inhospitable Church, like a family
closed in on itself, kills the Gospel and dries up the
world. No barred doors in the Church, never!’
The open door has always been one of Pope Francis’s
favourite images. In Evangelii Gaudium he wrote:
‘The Church is called to be the house of the Father,
with doors always wide open… so that if someone,
moved by the Spirit, comes there looking for God,
he or she will not find a closed door. There are other
doors t ]