Breathe In, Breathe Out
The Year of Mercy is like a breath. Notice your breath; when we breathe in, the first second of air flow is small, but it gives way to a larger flow of air that fills our lungs. In the same way, the first month felt like the first second of breathing in. We started with elementary facts, “What is a Jubilee?” and “What is a Holy Door?”, and through those things God immediately drew us in to the greatness of His Mercy, immersing us in beauty and truth like a large volume of fresh air.
And just like a breath, we have to breathe out.
Breathing out carries with it a sense of release, of surrendering, and even of dying. A Catholic author remarks: “Turning to Christ, by definition, means dying to self. This death to self means coming to a place where the disciple wants only what Christ wants and the old self-will does not exist any longer.” At the end of the Year of Mercy, we are called to want only what Christ wants, after recognizing that He is the source of all that we could ever need and want.