In the Diocese of Manchester (New Hampshire) Bishop Peter A. Libasci has asked his flock to do something perhaps a bit odd, but significant in this Year of Mercy. In a letter to be inserted into every parish bulletin, he asks the faithful to visit a Holy Door during this year -- in itself, not out of the ordinary. However, in doing so, he also challenges them to carry an image of the infant Jesus and to embrace the image as they pass through the Holy Door as part of their pilgrimage.
The bishops writes, “Think of someone taking up the image of the Infant and holding it as if it were his or her child – the child as a source of happiness or tears; the child who died too young, the child gone off to a new beginning or the child addicted and suffering, the child who died before birth, the child longed-for but not granted by God. How many might take this moment of deeply personal prayer to contemplate beyond words the presence of Christ and His understanding?”
In a few days Bishop Tobin will preside over the opening of the Holy Door at the cathedral in Providence as the diocese shares in the commencement of the Year of Mercy. As much as this jubilee year is to be about the faithful returning to Jesus, voice of the Father’s Mercy, it must also be about people allowing Jesus to return to them to be embraced. God has not left people, people have pushed God away. Holding the child, Jesus, close to their hearts as they begin this pilgrim journey of Mercy is just what is needed.
