Third Sunday of Advent - Pope Francis chose to inaugurate the Jubilee Year of Mercy last Tuesday because December 8 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of Vatican II. That council, Pope Francis reminds us, inaugurated a new phase in the Church’s history. The Spirit called the Church to tear down the walls that for far too long had made it a fortress, and to proclaim the gospel in a new, more accessible way. Pope Francis quotes Saint John XXIII in declaring the Church’s preference for “the medicine of mercy,” and Blessed Paul VI in proposing the Good Samaritan as our model for discipleship (Misericordiae Vultus, 4). Pope Francis adds that God’s mercy is “the beating heart of the Gospel,” and that mercy “must penetrate the heart and mind” of every disciple (MV, 12). Three times today’s Gospel asks, “What should I do?” Pope Francis would say: Imitate Jesus, who came not wielding the fiery judgment that John the Baptist had threatened, but instead imparting healing, compassion, forgiveness—mercy!