The Jubilee Year of Mercy
Facilitator: Dr Dan White
Thursday 4 and Friday 5 February
A Prayer for Mercy
God of Love and Compassion,
Help us to open doors of Mercy in our communities,
in our families and in the world.
Let mercy guide our loving and bring us closer to the heart of the Gospel.
May we live as Jesus, with mercy that welcomes, loves, forgives
and calls us to live the gospel joyfully.
We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen
Throughout the SR Office two day retreat, Dr Dan White led us through some powerful and moving reflections on the Jubilee Year of Mercy. We took time out from our busy schedules to discover the definitions of mercy within our 21st century context, to reflect on our own experiences of mercy in our lives and how this compares to the notion of mercy with the time of Jesus.
Given the opportunity to break open the Scriptures through the lens of mercy, gave me an opportunity to reconnect with the counter cultural practices that Jesus employed to model mercy, love and compassion at a time when these gifts were seen as a weakness. It made me wonder about our current context and the world in which I live - Is the demonstration of mercy, love, kindness and compassion celebrated enough within our society, or are they still counter cultural? This question has certainly challenged me to seek out greater opportunities to acknowledge the acts of mercy that I am privileged to witness, to give and to receive within my life.
We deepened our understanding of the concept "God of Mercy, People of Mercy" by unpacking the Corporal Works of Mercy:
- To feed the hungry;
- To give drink to the thirsty;
- To clothe the naked;
- To harbour the harbourless;
- To visit the sick;
- To ransom the captive;
- To bury the dead.
We reflected how these works of Mercy could be translated into our ives in a relevant and meaningful way - making a difference to the people with whom we work and meet, creating opportunities to pray, maintaining the dignity of others.
We concluded our retreat with the celebration of the Eucharist celebrated by Fr Gary. This Mass, bought together our prayers, our new found understandings of mercy and our friendship with one another around the table of Jesus. With mercy in our line of sight throughout the year , together we sang :
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