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Like clockwork, the faithful wound their way into St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the First Friday of March—early in the morning, throughout the afternoon and into the evening.
Many came for the sole purpose of participating in the “Step Into Mercy” Lenten program the cathedral co-sponsored with the Sisters of Life.
The half-day initiative, which began at 8:30 a.m. on March 4, was an outgrowth of Pope Francis’ “24 Hours for the Lord,” in which parishes around the world are asked to make the sacrament of reconciliation and Eucharistic Adoration available for a 24-hour period. The third annual event was held March 4-5.
The cathedral program began and ended in prayer, and culminated with the celebration of Mass at 5:30 p.m.; Stations of the Cross at 6 p.m.; Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, a Eucharistic procession outdoors and back inside the cathedral through the Holy Doors for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, followed by Benediction.
Father Esteban Sanchez, a parochial vicar at St. Patrick’s, was celebrant and homilist of the liturgy and led the Eucharistic procession outside along the perimeter of the cathedral, beginning on the East 50th Street side, past the front of the cathedral on Fifth Avenue, around another corner to the East 51st Street side, and then through the Holy Doors.
“Everything is grace, everything is God’s gift,” Father Sanchez told CNY at the close of day. “This beautiful evening, the beautiful day, actually, showed people that God is real.”
Twenty priests were available to hear confessions. The Divine Mercy Chaplet and Rosary were prayed and talks about mercy were made.
Perhaps nobody prayed “The Our Father” during the Stations of the Cross with more determination—or decibels—than 4-year-old Aden San Jose of Kissimmee, Fla. “The prayer of God, that’s Jesus’ Dad,” the lad later explained.
Alongside him were his brother Julian, 10, and their grandmother, Aimee San Jose, 56, who lives in San Diego.
Julian, who is preparing to participate in the Way of the Cross at Holy Redeemer Catholic School in Kissimmee, where he is a fifth-grader and Aden is in prekindergarten, paid special attention to the Stations and their message: “that Jesus suffered to save us.”
Unbeknown to their grandmother—she had prayed they would arrive in time for the regularly scheduled 5:30 p.m. Mass to receive Holy Communion—“Step Into Mercy” was already in full swing when she and her grandsons stepped into the cathedral. Noting her devotions to First Friday, Divine Mercy and the Stations of the Cross, she said, “I was in tears,” during the Lenten program that highlighted all the above. “He knows what’s in my heart, he knows what I want to do,” she said of Jesus.
The program also drew a Muslim family from Pakistan. Zainab Gilani, 20, who is pursuing studies in criminal law at a university in that country, attended with her brother, Sherdill, 11, and their mother, Kausar, 49. The three were on their way to Times Square when one of the Sisters of Life handed them material on the Year of Mercy. “I got this urge that I should go in,” Zainab said. “This is my first time I am here in the church. I loved it. It’s amazing. The atmosphere is so nice. It feels that you’re in another world.”
Pointing from the back of the cathedral to the nave, she added, “I prayed right over there; it made me feel very good.”
In some respects, Zainab felt at home. “My religion teaches love and peace,” she said, “to talk nicely, be nice, spread love, kindness.”
Lorena Gutierrez, 37, a wife and mother from St. John and Visitation parish in the Bronx, had her two daughters in tow: Mariana, 19 months, and Michelle, five months. “The Mass was beautiful. It was really a gift for us.” It was important to Mrs. Gutierrez to bring her daughters, she said, for the blessings they would receive and because “Pope Francis asked” the faithful to participate. “We are here for that,” she said. It is her hope, she added, that her daughters “can be close to God” as they grow up.
Reflecting on the theme of mercy, Mrs. Gutierrez referred to the Sisters of Life, who have helped her through the years, by reinforcing that “God is merciful, God is love,” and that he always helps and never abandons.
“I have my family, thanks to God,” she said, “and because of the Sisters.”
The Sisters of Life participated in the planning with members of the cathedral staff under the coordination of Msgr. Robert Ritchie, the cathedral rector.
Mario Bruschi, 82, of St. John Nepomucene, St. Francis Cabrini and St. John the Martyr parish in Manhattan, described “Step Into Mercy” as “inspiring and beautiful,” just as the Blessed Sacrament is “all the time.”
“The presence of Christ” in the Eucharist, he said, “brings forth his love, his compassion and his forgiveness—and I felt it.”
Walking through the cathedral’s Holy Doors, Bruschi said, made him feel as though he were “back in Rome, enjoying the opportunity to walk through the Holy Doors to get this plenary indulgence.”
Accompanying Bruschi was his son of the same name, 38-year-old Mario, who serves as the cathedral’s director of young adult ministry.
Noting the Lenten program “was something the pope wanted all Catholics to do,” he was pleased to see a favorable number of young adults present. “It’s good that on a Friday night they chose to be here, and rather to be outside at a restaurant or a bar.”
Following Benediction, Father Sanchez sent the faithful on their way with a special commission: “Go to the world and spread the message of Jesus Christ, the message of mercy, love, forgiveness. Pray for the conversion of souls. The Day of Mercy has ended. Go in peace.”
