{"id":1901,"date":"2015-12-07T19:52:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T19:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1901"},"modified":"2015-11-29T20:12:54","modified_gmt":"2015-11-29T20:12:54","slug":"advent-2016-and-the-jubilee-year-of-mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/12\/advent-2016-and-the-jubilee-year-of-mercy.html","title":{"rendered":"Advent 2016 and the Jubilee Year of Mercy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Gualberto107\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Advent 2016 is underway, a time of internal preparation in order to be more fittingly joy-filled when Christmas dawns. I truly enjoy this time, and try to spend lots more of my waking hours in quiet, prayer, and gentle appreciation for all of God’s marvelous gifts in my life and in the world around. And this year, I will also reflect upon and ramp up for another deeply spiritual event that will flow throughout the coming year: The Jubilee Year of Mercy.<\/p>\n

It’s an interesting juxtaposition of words: \u00a0“Jubilee” and “Mercy.” When I think of the word “jubilee,” I envision loud and happy celebration – a time of bright music and lots of praise and laughter. Jubilee, to me, recalls the gospel song, “Sign Me Up,” and the uplifting way the choir I used to conduct would sing it, hands raised and faces beaming.<\/p>\n

And then there’s the word “mercy,” a much more tempered word, with roots in the direct connection between our broken human condition and God’s forgiveness and love. It’s hard to voice the word “mercy”\u00a0with anything but reverence, devoid of clatter and noise. Even harder to imagine loud celebrations with mercy at the heart: The most obvious song that comes to mind is the slower, simpler “Lord, Have Mercy” that we intone during the liturgy.<\/p>\n

But, are the two words, then, separate and distinct, or is something else going on?<\/p>\n

Taking a deeper look, I think these two words move and speak together in a very important way. \u00a0For, as individual as they are in tone, “jubilee” and “mercy” blend joy with gratitude, celebration with sanctity. No freewheeling year, this 2016, but rather a time to be so very, deeply thankful for the mercy that Our Lord extends to us and then, through the energy and enthusiasm that a jubilee inspires, to act upon it \u00a0for the betterment of ourselves and our world.<\/p>\n

To me, “jubilee” ebokes the willing spirit that will lead each of us to take more time to deepen our faith and find more ways to act with compassion and mercy toward others. And the word “mercy” brings us to those gentle acts,\u00a0internal and external, one by one, throughout the year which, when added together and to those acts that others do, will make for a moving and inspiring time for our very troubled world.<\/p>\n

So, at the deepest level, “Jubilee” and “Mercy” go hand in hand – joy with compassion, celebration with love.<\/p>\n

And so we begin!<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advent 2016 is underway, a time of internal preparation in order to be more fittingly joy-filled when Christmas dawns. I truly enjoy this time, and try to spend lots more of my waking hours in quiet, prayer, and gentle appreciation for all of God’s marvelous gifts in my life and in the world around. And…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1242,1047,578,379,1420,1245,1236,95],"tags":[1961,183,265,1962,56,1963,1964],"class_list":["post-1901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-good","category-goodness","category-lupus-2","category-pain-2","category-positive","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","tag-advent-2016","tag-gods-love","tag-joy","tag-jubilee-of-mercy","tag-love","tag-mercy","tag-our-response-to-mercy"],"yoast_head":"\nAdvent 2016 and the Jubilee Year of Mercy - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What the two words "jubilee" and "mercy" might mean to us\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent 2016 and the Jubilee Year of Mercy - 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1902,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901\/revisions\/1902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}