This past Tuesday, The Solemnity
of the Immaculate Conception, was the official opening of the Jubilee Year of
Mercy. It runs till Nov. 20, 2016, The Feast of Christ the King. So we are now
in the official Year of Mercy.
We anticipated the Year a bit by
having a Parish Mission on Mercy, given by Paulist Fr. Frank Desiderio, CSP,
Nov. 7–11. It was well attended and well done. Fr Desiderio defined mercy as
“having a heart for the poor”. He demonstrated this very well with stories and
incidents from the life of Pope Francis. He indeed has a heart for the poor.
It is important that we
participate in and celebrate the Year of Mercy not only as individuals, but
even more importantly as a parish community. How are we as St Austin Parish
called to observe the Year of Mercy? Well, I am not entirely sure. The Parish
Pastoral Council is pondering this issue. If you have specific ideas, feel free
to share them with me, or one of the members of the Parish Pastoral Staff, or
with the Parish Pastoral Council. The Holy Spirit (I believe) is at work
throughout our parish, and we should be open to any inspiration that comes to
us.
For me “mercy” is much more than
just forgiving those who offend us, though that is central. By defining mercy
as “having a heart for the poor,” we open ourselves to a much more proactive
stance of mercy. We already do many things to help the poor here (the Christmas
Basket program this coming Saturday being one of the clearest examples).
I hope, in the new year, to write
an occasional series of bulletin columns on the corporal and spiritual works of
mercy.
I would like to have a mini “film
festival” to show some movies that contain the theme of mercy and that would
stimulate discussion about mercy. If you know of a good film for this send me
an email.
Perhaps we could have a book
discussion on a book that raises issues of mercy. Or have some speaker come and
talk to us about forgiveness, especially from a personal point of view. Maybe
the artistic members of our community would put on a show of original works of
art on the theme of mercy. The parish’s Christ Renews His Parish community is
working on a retreat for women that will include the theme of mercy. I would
like to have another parish mission at the end of the year of mercy to mark its
close. And I am sure that there are other ways that we could examine and be
touched by the themes of mercy. It is pretty broad.
With creativity and spirit we
should be able to make the Year of Mercy both memorable and spiritually
profitable for us and our neighbors.
God bless!
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