As we follow Pope Francis and walk with the Church in this Jubilee Year of Mercy that the Holy Father has proclaimed, we should look for ways to deepen our love for God’s mercy. That mercy is a direct consequence of what St. John the Evangelist tells us so succinctly, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).

Because of that love God has created us in His own image. His love transforms us if we return that love, preparing us for eternal life in that love. And because we are broken and fallen creatures, heirs to the original sin of Adam and Eve, that love reaches out to us to call us back, even when we have sinned.

This is the connection between God’s love and His mercy.

Of course we cannot confuse God’s mercy with His forgiveness, even though they are closely related. Because God is merciful, He wants to forgive our sins. But even in His mercy, He will not force forgiveness. Each of us must first turn away from sin. We must turn back to God. We must repent of what we have done that was not of God. That is a necessary condition to receive God’s forgiveness.

Pope Francis has highlighted, in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Spiritual and the Corporal Works of Mercy. By the Spiritual Works of Mercy, we identify tasks that we as believers undertake for the good of the souls of others. Those Spiritual Works of Mercy have classically been understood to be: to instruct the ignorant; to counsel the doubtful; to admonish sinners; to bear wrongs patiently; to forgive offences willingly; to comfort the afflicted; and to pray for the living and the dead.

The first Spiritual Work of Mercy is therefore to instruct the ignorant. Obviously we have to be clear in our understanding of what that means, especially the term ignorant. In common and sometimes insulting parlance, we know it is used to mean someone stupid or perhaps blockheaded. But the original meaning that applies here is much more neutral. Ignorance is simply the absence of knowing.

One might even say, ignorance is simply to be unaware.

It is, then, a Spiritual Work of Mercy to help those who are unaware of God’s love, who do not know Jesus, or who, perhaps, do not know how to fulfill love for God in this life. When might we exercise that Spiritual Work of Mercy?

Perhaps most obviously and directly, parents have a great responsibility to fulfill that task with their children. For some, there is a practice that the first time the mother holds her newborn, she traces the sign of the cross on the child’s forehead with her thumb. So begins the great training of parents for their children that they grow up to know God, to love Jesus and the Catholic Church, and to live a life of prayer, sacraments and moral rightness. Our Catholic schools, that we have celebrated this week, are a direct assistance to parents in the fulfillment of this work of mercy.

As young people grow, we need to help them to more deeply understand their faith. They will in the course of time have to defend it (we all have to at some moment or other) and to make their own personal commitment to their Catholic faith that will be a basis for their own life, family and the next generation.

God gives to each of us numerous occasions during life when we meet others outside of our families who are not formed or informed about God and His love. Sometimes, we have the chance to speak to people directly about faith and religion. We might even be in a position to invite them to come to the Catholic faith. In our day, how often do we meet those who fell away from faith or the Catholic faith early in life? They are then baptized but spiritually in need of knowledge, encouragement and example.

To instruct the ignorant, that is those in need of the knowledge of God’s love, is a loving and often unspoken but lived example that is a responsibility for all of us.

This Year of Mercy reminds us that God’s love and mercy is ever present. But he entrusts to each of us the task of making sure that others see and know of His love.