Through the open door

A day after my favorite kook said we should keep all Muslims out of this nation (while ignoring white racists, black panthers, and any other hate group out there), Pope Francis launched the jubilee of mercy with the opening of the Vatican's holy door, joined by his predecessor Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Francis told the faithful, 'The extraordinary year is itself a gift of grace. To pass through the holy door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each of them." This year, a jubilee year in the Catholic faith, will see millions pass through the Vatican's holy door. Meanwhile, for the first time, Catholics globally are invited to walk through other designated holy doors in cathedrals around the world.

And in the most free country in the world, my favorite kook is saying we should build walls, we should keep out, we should be as unmerciful as we can possibly be.

Zechariah's prophecy quotes God as saying, "Open your borders to the immigrants, proud Lebanon! Your sentinel trees will burn. Weep, great pine trees! Mourn, you sister cedars! Your towering trees are cordwood. Weep Bashan oak trees! Your thick forest is now a field of stumps. Do you hear the wailing of shepherds? They’ve lost everything they once owned. Do you hear the outrage of the lions? The mighty jungle of the Jordan is wasted. Make room for the returning exiles!"

Merci and grace we are to give. So simple, made so complex.

And just in case you don't get it, what with people doing their religion in different manners and such and even in different languages, look at the day of Pentecost, "T\There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; Even Cretans and Arabs! “They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”

Merci and grace we are to give. So simple, made so complex.