Wet meh…with mercy, love, hope

Archbishop opens Jubilee Year in Archdiocese

Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon spurred Catholics to “jump on board now” and accept the graces of the Jubilee Year.

“We should not allow the year to go by like any other year,” he said at the Holy Mass to celebrate the opening of the Jubilee Door, on Sunday, December 29 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain. That Sunday was also the Church’s observance of the Feast of the Holy Family.

There was an atmosphere of anticipation and joy as a crowd gathered to herald the Jubilee Year in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. In attendance were Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Santiago de Wit Guzmán; the Mayor of Port of Spain Chinua Alleyne; a representative of the Member of Parliament for Port of Spain South; and the chargé d’affaires of the Mexican Embassy.

A Jubilee Year is celebrated in the Church every 25 years and therefore is not to be taken lightly. Archbishop Gordon highlighted some people see practising their faith as a “burden” and make excuses saying they were “too busy” to attend Mass.  “‘I can’t this, I too busy, I can’t do that, I too busy’; brothers and sisters consider this Jubilee Year the grace that God is pouring out on us His people and consider that nothing, nothing, nothing is too much to give our God in this year of grace,” Archbishop Gordon said.

He issued a clarion call for people to dare to outdo God in generosity. This is to be displayed in families going to the sacred sites, works of mercy and charity to the poor, and forgiveness of debts. Generosity will bring blessings from God.

Archbishop Gordon spent some time dealing with forgiveness during the Jubilee Year.

“If you hold someone in your heart and for years you have not been able to forgive, now is the acceptable time. This is the moment of grace; do not allow this moment to pass you by and do not allow this year to close with you still holding resentment in your heart to anybody at all, living or dead,” he instructed.

He added that people should kneel and beg for God’s mercy and grace to forgive others. If there is reciprocal forgiveness, the people of God will feel free, and this will take the Church to new places. “Unforgiveness is the greatest obstacle to God’s grace acting in the world,” Archbishop Gordon said.

As charity begins at home, forgiveness also starts here. People should seek God’s grace to release the family members they believe have caused them hurt and ask their forgiveness if hurt was caused to them. There should be tangible acts of mercy.

For the deep-seated hurts, a pilgrimage can be done as a family to a sacred site.  At the end of the year, there should be no emotional debts to anyone. Archbishop Gordon said during the Jubilee, one’s vocation will become clearer in the heart, and the impulse to put God first will come to the fore. There is also clarity about priorities. He said priorities for the present generation were “upside down” with external activities being more important than knowing and serving God.

Alluding to the state of the world, he mentioned the Middle East, Europe, Africa, South Asia, looked like it was on the brink of disaster. Despite this, the pilgrim of hope believes “God is working God’s plan”. The pilgrim of hope looks on and thinks, “‘Lord, I am dying to see how You going to make right out of this crooked thing…how You going to turn this for good’ because we believe God turns everything to good for those who believe and hope in Him”.

The pilgrim of hope sees not only the human hand in the machinations of the world but God, weaving a tapestry of beauty to display His love and glory.  Archbishop Gordon said: “It was on the cross when the world had the least hope, when we killed the Son of God, that the glory of God shone out. The darker the hour, the more glorious the light of God”.

The pilgrim of hope knows hope does not disappoint. Sharing his trust in God using local parlance he said, “What I have to say to God is this, ‘wet meh, wet meh with hope, wet meh with love, wet meh with mercy and forgiveness, wet meh with devotion for You that my eyes may see what You are doing in the midst of all that we experience in our world today’.”

Regardless of how the Jubilee Year started, the Archbishop told of how it should culminate, “we going to end it wet, wet with grace, wet with mercy, wet with forgiveness, wet with devotion and wet with love for our God.”