No Closed Doors

In one daily homily in March 2015, (Pope) Francis pointedly asked Christians who do not act mercifully toward brethren who have fallen away but want to reenter the Church community who they think they are. "Who are you who shuts the door of your heart to a man, a woman who wants to improve, to return back to the people of God, because the Holy Spirit has stirred his or her heart?" the pontiff asked.

The Church, he said, is "the home of Jesus and Jesus welcomes--but not only welcomes, (he) goes to find people." 

Joshua J. McElwee

10 Things Pope Francis Wants You to Know about the Family

 

Our Brothers' Keeper,
Southern Illinois

From Magnificat Year of Mercy Companion, Jubilee Holy Doors

• The Door to Our Hearts: Calls us to open our heart to Christ. Like Mary, who bore him deep within her body, Christ gives us the grace to open our hearts to the conversion, unity, and justice of the Kingdom of God.
• The Door to Our Homes: (C)hallenge(s) (us) to find ways to open the doors of our homes to our families, our friends, and all who need us.
• The Door to the Churches: The silent witness to all the moments of our lives. It is the door welcoming the new born child who years later is married by the priest and finally the witness at the end of life as the body of the deceased Christian is received into the Church. The Church door is the door to salvation, the portal of the Kingdom of God. Christ himself told us that He is the door to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Christ not only invites us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven through Him, He even leaves the keys to his Apostles, assuring them that “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Mt. 16:19).”