On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, 20 December 2015, Bishop Nicholas opened the Door of Mercy at St Anselm and St Caecilia.
At the start of Mass, the procession moved down the centre aisle towards the back of the church and outside to the Holy Door, as Bishop Nicholas recited excerpts from the Psalms which speak of God's love and healing mercy.
Once outside, to the amazement of passersby and motorists on Kingsway, Bishop Nicholas opened and blessed the Door of Mercy. As he entered through the Holy Door with Fr David Barnes and Mgr John Conneely, he prayed: 'Grant that your faithful may pass through this gate, and be welcomed into your presence, so that they may experience, O Father, your abundant mercy.'
As the procession moved through the church, Bishop Nicholas sprinkled the congregation with holy water saying it 'is a reminder of our baptism. It recalls the mystery and salvation we have received through the power of Christ's resurrection.'
During the homily, Bishop Nicholas reflected on the purpose of the Holy Door, saying it is there to 'remind us that we're on a journey - a journey from this life into the next'.
Speaking of his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he recalled the door at Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem, known as the eye of the needle, and the door at his tomb, which is also very tiny: 'To enter the place of his birth and of his death brings home to you just how incarnational our faith is: I mean how concrete, how physical, how real.'
He continued: 'Opening this door on this day reminds us that Mercy was Jesus’s very mission. He himself is peace, as Micah reminded us. It was out of God’s Mercy that the Word was made flesh; he lived among us; he offered himself up for us – all so that we might be saved. He invites us now to drink deeply of that Mercy.'
Like the Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, who 'didn’t close the door behind his boy; nor did he just leave it open' this same 'Father waits for us at each and every Holy Door', said Bishop Nicholas.
Noting that Pope Francis wishes to encourage us, Bishop Nicholas said, 'See the invitation which is being held out to you. Accept the invitation to embrace and be embraced by Mercy; to confess your sins and make a new start.'
Additional photos of the opening can be found here.
