The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy declared last Year for the Universal Church drew our attention to the core of the Gospel message Jesus revealed through His incarnation, life, mission and redemption of entire mankind. The quality of Mercy is the unique characteristic of Christians as Jesus teaches in Luke 6:27-36. The message of Mercy was shared with the entire human family through the Church in an era that is going through a crisis of Mercy at all levels. The Year of Mercy concludes on the 20th of November, the feast of Christ the King, though for practical reasons we celebrate it as a Diocese on the 14th of November. However, the need to ‘be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful’ is the lifelong call of Jesus Christ, the merciful one who is face of the Father’s mercy – Miseriocordiae vultus.

Most Rev. Dr. Julian Winston Sebastian Fernando, S.S.S., Bishop’s House, Rockhill, Badulla, Sri Lanka.