Announcing the celebration of a Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis explained he would open the door of mercy at St Peter’s on the feast of the Immaculate Conception (08 December) and invited the dioceses of the rest of the world to do the same the following Sunday (13 December).Looking back I realise we all chose the day we thought better according to our local situation. The Vicariate of Ingwavuma did it on Sunday 06 December (before Pope Francis did it in Rome), other dioceses chose to “join” Pope Francis and did it on Tuesday 08 December. The Diocese of Manzini… on Friday evening. Pope Francis himself had opened the first door of mercy in November during his visit to Central African Republic.
While probably most of the dioceses chose to do it during a daily Mass, our priests suggested we begin the Jubilee with a vigil of prayer to be started at 8 pm outside the Cathedral and would finish at 6 am. So we did!
Fr Dumisani Vilakati led the very first moment of our gathering explaining briefly and clearly the meaning of a Jubilee in the Bible and of this particular Jubilee of Mercy. We read a passage from the Gospel of Luke and a few paragraphs from Pope Francis’ letter announcing the Jubilee. We then proceeded to the entrance of the Cathedral and the door of mercy was opened. Led by the cross and the book of the Gospels we all went in. We were not just going into the church like we do every day. Going through this “door of mercy” we wanted to welcome this special time of grace being offered to us.
Click HERE to read the rest of the post from the bishop’s blog