Mega, Mega, Mega Million Jackpot: Get Your Ticket

Life as a millionaire:  wow … wouldn’t this be amazing?!  

Have you ever been part of the crowd rushing to get a ticket to win one of those Mega Million Jackpots?  Then, did you start dreaming of what you would do with the winnings only to have your dreams dashed by the realist who tells you, “It is more likely to be struck by lightning than to win?”   Yes, then comes your response, “You can’t win if you don’t buy a ticket.” 

When Pope Francis announced the Year of Mercy, he announced the Mega, Mega, Mega Million jackpot – a jackpot that is there for the asking. Yes, it does help to buy a ticket. Where can you get these Golden Mercy Tickets?  In the loving eyes of a friend; in the quiet of prayer; as we encounter those who are poor; as we reach out to receive the Eucharist … each of these is an invitation to enter the Door of Mercy.  

Pope Francis offers us one of these Mercy Lotto Tickets. He says, “May the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year be lived more intensely as a privileged moment to celebrate and experience God’s mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 17). How can you receive mercy, be mercy, and give mercy?

Receive Mercy:  Regardless of whether we buy a ticket, God’s Mercy abounds all around us.  Take a moment and reflect on where you have experienced loving mercy. Where have you witnessed another person touching the heart of a friend, a child, a spouse or even a stranger?  In prayer, how you have felt God’s mercy?  To fully experience it we must say “Yes” to the merciful love that is being offered.  In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God heals our wounds that are barriers to saying “Yes” to his love.  How can you open your hands to receive the mercy God is offering you directly or through one of his children?

Be Mercy:  When we open our hands and experience mercy freely given, it stirs our hearts.   The deeper we enter into the experience the more we allow it to permeate the essence of who we are.  We hear the invitation to become the love and compassion that we have received.

Give Mercy:  This unconditional love is meant to be shared, to be lived.  True Mercy calls us forth to model Jesus’ example of being the “Face of God’s Mercy” in the world.  How are you an instrument of God’s Mercy?  Imagine the joy of giving someone one of those Mega Mercy Lotto Tickets.

This Lent, take the Pope Francis Challenge:  Receive mercy, Be mercy, and Give mercy.