Category Archives: Year of Mercy

Acknowledging God’s mercy is so infinite and life giving, it is difficult to fully understand, but we can at least acknowledge that it is there and available to us. This is the first step to putting mercy into action. As Pope Francis tells us, “the name of God is mercy.”

Accepting The next step appears to be easy, but is difficult for most of us. We acknowledge God’s bountiful mercy, but we find it difficult to accept it in our own lives. We can feel unworthy, or fail to acknowledge our own brokenness which is necessary to receive the full benefit of God’s mercy. “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

Transforming Once we accept God’s mercy fully and unconditionally, we allow it to transform our lives, making us merciful beings ourselves, and allowing us to more fully live as Disciples of Christ. Like the Prodigal Son, we must accept the Father’s mercy and allow it to change our lives.

Transmitting God’s mercy is meant to be shared! We use the transforming power of God’s mercy in our everyday lives and show mercy and compassion to others.

Pope Francis says “May your heart be large enough to welcome all the men and women you come across during the day.” Through our compassion and kindness others will experience God’s love.

Acts of mercy can include visiting the sick, listening to a friend and reaching out to those who are suffering. Pope Francis encourages us not to remain indifferent to the pain and suffering of others.

The Adult Faith Formation and Service Commissions of St. John Parish facilitate our journey into the Heart of Mercy.

The goal of a virtuous life is to have a habitual disposition to imitate God’s revealing self in the life and love of Jesus. To become a mindful, merciful person is to pray and seek to learn God’s will for us and strive to act upon it.

Our understanding minds must start with the realization that every gift we have… (each breath) is not our own. We are temporary trustees of these resources, to be shared in mercy and justice with all of our sisters and brothers.

How does the petition “endow us with understanding minds…” apply to our lives?

The mindful disposition to be MERCIFUL was as radical in the culture of the Holy Land in the time of Jesus Christ as it is today in our secular culture. It all starts with a mindful understanding and view of ‘the other’. Are we in competition with ‘the other’, for: influence, power, gratification or resources, or are we in community, to be aware and to provide and share our physical and spiritual resources with the needs of ‘the other’?

As we continue to journey more deeply into the heart of mercy, may even the smallest acts of everyday living express our mindful disposition of mercy.

The Adult Faith Formation and Service Commissions of St. John Parish facilitate our journey into the Heart of Mercy.

The one who listens to me, who carefully seeks me in everyday things… that person will find true happiness. (Prov 8:34)

Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise person who built a home on rock. (Mt 7:24)

Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.(Lk 11:28)

When Jesus speaks of a “listening ear” he is referring to the God-given grace of being able to listen to what the Spirit is saying and then acting upon it in
our hearts.

The Adult Faith Formation and Service Commissions of St. John Parish facilitate our journey into the Heart of Mercy.

Pope Francis invites us “to find in this Jubilee Year the joy of discovering and rendering fruitful God’s mercy, with which we are all called to give comfort to every man and every woman of our time”. How might we become more open to the needs of others so that people see in us a reflection of Christ and his mercy?

The Adult Faith Formation and Service Commissions of St. John Parish facilitate our journey into the Heart of Mercy.

In Miscericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy), Pope Francis explains that mercy is the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Pope Francis often reminds us, we are all, he included, sinners in need of God’s mercy. The first and only step required to experience mercy is to acknowledge that we are in need of mercy. The mercy of God is his loving concern for each one of us. No one is excluded from God’s mercy. The Lord never tires of forgiving us: never! God always forgives. God forgives always. God forgives not with a decree but with a caress. God’s mercy is the beating heart of the gospel.
(Adapted from the words of Pope Francis: The Name of God is Mercy, Random House)

For your reflection: What place and meaning does mercy have in your heart, life, and personal history?

The Adult Faith Formation and Service Commissions of St. John Parish facilitate our journey into the Heart of Mercy.