The Holy Year of Mercy by Fr Egon M. Zillekens •
During October renovations to the Canaan Patris Shrine, the shrine in the garden of the Marienau, were carried out. The shrine suddenly looked different – the door was closed, the foundations exposed. In a letter to the Priests’ Federation Fr Egon M. Zillekens invited them to connect this view with the Holy Year of Mercy.
Dear Confreres,
Suddenly you can’t get in, the door is blocked off.
Only when we no longer have something,
do we discover how much we value what we have:
Simply to go into the shrine, say hello, make a petition,
express thanksgiving, pray for a confrere who is ill,
look to see which Course has its turn today,
or simply to pause for a moment,
before HER, with HER, before HIM, with HIM.
What would we be without the shrine?
On 8 December the Holy Door of Mercy will be opened.
We who live from HIS mercy will be able to walk through.
We could perhaps discover the Sacrament of Mercy once again.
We are open and prepared for all who come to drink from the spring of mercy.
For that we don’t need a Course of Mercy, because we experience daily how our misery awakens the Father’s mercy.
Here I am, Father. Here I am Father.
A workman knocks part of the shrine’s wall off and reminds us of sayings of our Father in the past – that God is like a master builder who knocks on every wall to see whether it is absolutely solid. He doesn’t stop before any convent, or any village in the African bush – nor even before the Priests’ Federation, our groups, us, me.
