Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his
betrayal,
and assured Paradise to the
repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the
invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in
weakness
in order that they may feel
compassion for those in
ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and
consecrate every one of us
with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives
and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this through the
intercession of Mary,
Mother of Mercy,
you who live and reign with
the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen