On Sunday, 20 December Loyola Sanctuary celebrated the opening of the Jubilee door of the Year of Mercy. The bishop of San Sebastian, José Ignacio Munilla, presided over the solemn ceremony, concelebrated by the rector of the sanctuary, Koldo Alzibar, SJ. The celebration began in the atrium of the basilica, with the opening of the door through which priests and faithful entered until the church was filled. At the beginning of the Eucharist the words of Pope Francis were remembered, announcing the Jubilee “as a propitious time for the Church, to strengthen the witness of the faithful and to make it more effective.”
In his homily, Bishop Munilla referred to the need “not to perceive mercy in a partial or reduced way, but in its whole integrity, such as the Church promotes it.” As such, he indicated that mercy must embrace the material, psychological, and spiritual needs of the human being.
The works of mercy cannot be limited simply to the aid of our neighbours in their material needs. “That would be volunteerism!” Rather we must also give Love and Truth. Moreover, we need to give God Himself, because as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI liked to say, “The one who doesn’t give God, gives very little.”
Programming for the Sanctuary of Loyola for the Jubilee Year includes communal penance and Eucharist of Mercy the last weekend of every month; special prayers and a blessing at the 12:00 and 7:00PM Sunday Eucharists; the Novena of St. Ignatius of Loyola from 22 to 31 July, as well as two retreats: the first already celebrated during Advent, and the second one to be held in Lent.
