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Mercy Surrounds Us

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Uncategorized13 Comments

dark mercy

We exist in the infinite embrace of God’s mercy.  In mercy, we all were created.  In mercy, we all live.  In mercy, we all have the hope of eternal life.

The lavish mercy of God pours over us in every sunrise and sunset, in every noon and midnight.  With every breath, we draw on mercy.  With every thought, we capture its spirit and turn it to our hope.  The gift of such divine power in us calls us to lavish mercy with our own lives, to be agents of mercy in all things.

This journal is offered as an act of thanksgiving and celebration for that lavish mercy.  It is a gathering of reflections and prayers which sift through our ordinary experience to seek the breath-giving grace of God awaiting us there.

My name is Renee Yann. I am a Sister of Mercy.  I love to chase God through the bright blessing of words. I love to discover words in the dark blessing of silence. It is a joy to share with you the humble fruit of those mutual blessings.

Our entire theological tradition is expressed in terms of Mercy,
which I define as the willingness to enter into the chaos of others.
James F. Keenan, S.J.

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Friday of the Second Week of Easter

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

April 17, 2026

God of Abundance

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.
Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.

Don’t Be Confused

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Courage, Gospel, Jesus, justice, spirituality3 Comments

April 16, 2026

When political reality invades my prayer, I am moved to speak.

Yesterday, in an AP report from Bill Barrow and Emilie Megnien, I read:

A day before coming to Georgia, Vance tried to laugh off the meme (of Trump as Christ) as a joke that “a lot of people weren’t understanding.” The vice president also seemed to echo Trump’s assertion that Leo should concentrate less on global affairs.

“It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said in a Fox News interview.

AP reporters BILL BARROW and EMILIE MEGNIEN
Updated Wed, April 15, 2026 at 12:03 AM EDT

————

Each night before retiring, I prepare for the next morning’s meditation by reading the assigned scriptures. But too often, the noise of the day intrudes. Last night was one of those nights. Instead of stillness, my thoughts were preoccupied by this deeply disturbing report on Mr. Vance that echoes earlier comments by Mr. Trump.

I also drifted back to a seemingly inconsequential clip from the 6:00 PM news. A reporter had stopped a woman on the street and asked her opinion about the latest clash between the President and the Pope.

“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “I think the church should stay out of politics.”

However casual and uninformed, her answer lingered into my late evening. Beneath it lies a confusion that is anything but casual: the failure to distinguish between politics and morality. Hearing her, motivated me to examine my own conscience with this prayer:

Dear God, don’t let me be confused.

  • Help me see clearly the difference between politics and morality, yet their critical interdependence.
  • Let me honor and attend to the Pope as he courageously calls us to moral honesty.
  • Let me have the personal courage to name the moral corruption consuming our current politics.
  • Let me have the clarity to look beyond confusing, political explanations to see the greed, hatred, and moral weakness infesting our public life.
  • Let me not question the Pope’s mischaracterized “politics” as he raises a moral voice for the innocent, for the likes of those little school girls massacred with the click of a distant computer button.
  • Let me not characterize Pope Leo’s challenge as an unqualified intrusion but as a beacon of truth in a cacophony of self-serving excuses and outright lies.
  • Deliver me from the audacious ignorance that would condemn the Pope’s theology with the apparent limitations of my own subjective vainglorious creed.
  • Let me not doubt that when the destruction of a civilization is threatened, the Pope is impelled to speak, that he is inspirited to lead when other leadership so ignominiously fails.

Perhaps it was coincidence, or perhaps not, that the scripture readings for this week echo the same tension. The apostles, proclaiming the truth, are challenged and condemned by pharisaical politicians. Christ himself is rejected, not for lack of authority, but for the discomfort of what he reveals.

It has always been easier to label truth as disruptive than to respond to it.

So the question is not whether the Church should “enter politics.” The question is whether we are willing to hear a moral voice at all.

May we have the clarity—and the courage—to answer Pope Leo’s prophetic call.

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, FaithLeave a comment

April 16, 2026

A Good Heart, an “Easter-ed Heart”

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.

Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, FaithLeave a comment

April 14, 2026

Not So Easy to Be Born Again!

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.

Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.

Monday of the Second week of Easter

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

April 13, 2026

Born Again

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.

Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.

Second Sunday of Easter

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

April 12, 2026

Even When We Do Not See

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.

Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.

FDR

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, spirituality1 Comment

April 12, 2026

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945

In 1952, Mr. Farina had a little barber shop near the corner of 2nd and Columbia in Olde Kensington. Like many Philly barbershops today, back then it was a gathering spot for neighborhood men, even if they weren’t getting a haircut or shave. Sometimes, I was sent to retrieve my Grandpop for lunch after he had spent the morning overseeing barbershop politics. Grandpop was the Republican ward leader, and I was his seven-year-old assistant.

As I waited for “The Duke” (grandpop’s nickname) to sum up his morning arguments, I loved to watch Mr. Farina lather up a face for a shave, then lift that heavy strap from the chair’s arm. He would repeatedly slash his long razor on its already sharp edge, as I waited wide-eyed to see if the bearded patron survived the first slice!


On election day, Farina’s Barbershop became the district polling place. It was an exciting transformation. On the wide windows, red, white, and blue bunting had blossomed overnight. Balloons were tied to lawn chairs crowding the pavement. And kids like me scrambled to collect campaign buttons. The prize in 1952 was “I Like Ike”!

My family then were staunch Republicans. It seemed to my seven-year-old self that it might actually be a sin for someone to vote Democrat (a sin I have been committing all my adult life. Sorry, Grandpop!) I asked my Mom about it once, and she told me that we only voted for a Democrat in one circumstance – Franklin Roosevelt. She almost genuflected when she said his name.

Franklin Roosevelt died exactly one week before I was born. I sometimes wonder if we passed each other on our ways to and from heaven and earth, because I am so deeply fascinated and inspired by him and his inestimable contribution to history.
If you’d like to learn more about FDR and the times in which he served, I recommend these two books:

  • Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham
  • No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin

You may also enjoy the movie classic, “Sunrise at Campobello”, available for free on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/sunrise-at-campobello-1960

While this essay is not really a “reflection”, my intention is to celebrate FDR’s life while inviting readers to think about their own place, history, and contribution in civic society. Certainly, our sense of patriotism will suggest some standards. But more importantly, in these conflicted political times, our Gospel inspired-faith must inspire our participation in a global community seeking human rights and dignity for all people. As President Roosevelt put it:

“We have faith that future generations will know here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when those of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war.”

FDR: February 12, 1943

Music: Going Home – from the film “Eleanor and Franklin”

Suggested Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Click for Scripture

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Saturday in the Octave of Easter

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, FaithLeave a comment

April 11, 2026

Impossible Not to Speak the Name

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.

Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.

Friday in the Octave of Easter

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eastertide, Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

April 10, 2026

Breakfast with Jesus

These reflections during Eastertide 2026 are reblogs from 2023.

Our readings for that year were the same as this year’s, and some of the thoughts might be worth rethinking. I hope my long-timers enjoy them a second time, and that my new-timers appreciate a trip back in time. I thank all of you for journeying with me on Lavish Mercy.