Year of Mercy

Last week, during English class one of my students, a Holy Cross novice, asked me what I was going to do for the Year of Mercy.  While I was impressed by his willingness to start a conversation in English (as I had of course encouraged him to do) I was momentarily taken aback.  I had to admit to myself and to my students I had not given any thought at all as to what I was going to do to mark the year of Mercy.  Of course I had heard that Pope Francis had declared this a Jubilee Year of Mercy.  Certainly that seemed like a good idea to me, after all the world desperately needs to be more merciful and forgiving.

This morning during the lively liturgy I attended at a parish at Immaculate Conception Parish Church in a nearby neighborhood to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception we were reminded that today marks the beginning of the Year of Mercy.  Yes, I thought again how this is a good idea, because that is what the world needs right now.      

Later in the morning I opened my email to find my friend, Petra's latest blog entry.  https://mercypelago.wordpress.com/2015/12/08/the-poem/  Her poem led me to reflect on the reality of mercy, the gift of mercy, the need for mercy.  Mercy is not just some abstract idea; it lives in concrete realities, in relationships, in choices and in specific actions.

How easy it is for me to say that the world needs to be more merciful and more forgiving.  How easy it is for me to read the headlines of world news reports and decided that certain people (like Donald Trump for example) need to be more loving, forgiving, and merciful.  It is easier to see the need for mercy in our trouble world than to admit that it is very much needed in my own life.  Can I allow God's loving mercy to penetrate the dark sinful places in my own heart?  Can I be more merciful, more forgiving more patient, with the child who tries to steal the play dough?, with the sister who has ideas about child development that differ from my own?, with strangers who ask me for money?,  in my everyday interactions with those with whom I live and work?  in my correspondences and conversations with community, family and friends near and far?  

Wow, I have a lot to do during this Year of Mercy!  
This is not even what I had expected to write about this week.  
Take care.  Many blessings!