The Name of Mercy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Faith, Mercy, spirituality

Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of Our Lady of Mercy
September 24, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092422.cfm

Today, as the Mercy Family throughout the world celebrates Mercy Day, we praise and thank God for the call given to Venerable Catherine McAuley to respond to God’s grace by founding the Sisters of Mercy.

mercy2018

On September 24, 1827, Catherine used an unexpected inheritance to open a house for poor and homeless women in Dublin. It began with two, Catherine and Mary Ann Doyle – and that small, vibrant fire has lit the hearts of millions ever since.

Many of you, dear readers, carry that fire and will know Catherine’s story well. But some still unfamiliar with her life might want to explore this website:

For those of us who treasure a share in Catherine’s call, today’s readings may suggest several points for reflection. Ecclesiastes directs us to remember our “young call” that first turned us toward Mercy. It was full of fire and love which changed our lives. Today we pray in thanksgiving for that call and reiterate our desire to be transformed in Mercy

https://www.mercyworld.org/catherine/introducing-catherine/

To gain courage and energy for that transformation, let us reach through time for Catherine’s hand, telling her how we share her dream for God’s Mercy for all Creation. Let us ask her to enliven us each morning with the same passion for justice, the same compassionate tenderness, the same welcoming heart by which she showed others the Lavish Mercy of God.

Are there not moments when we are overwhelmed by that Mercy welling up within us and around us, flowing from good hearts over the world’s needs? We see and bless this grace in each other, dear Family, as we thank God this day to be called “Mercy”.

May each of your lives be richly blessed and marked by that name!

Today, I thought you might enjoy this powerful poem by Denise Levertov.
The music link is beneath it.
 Happy and blessed Mercy Day to all.


To Live in the Mercy of God

To lie back under the tallest
oldest trees. How far the stems
rise, rise
before ribs of shelter
open!

To live in the mercy of God. The complete
sentence too adequate, has no give.
Awe, not comfort. Stone, elbows of
stony wood beneath lenient
moss bed.

And awe suddenly
passing beyond itself. Becomes
a form of comfort.
Becomes the steady
air you glide on, arms
stretched like the wings of flying foxes.

To hear the multiple silence
of trees, the rainy
forest depths of their listening.

To float, upheld,
as salt water
would hold you,
once you dared.

To live in the mercy of God.
To feel vibrate the enraptured
waterfall flinging itself
unabating down and down
to clenched fists of rock.

Swiftness of plunge,
hour after year after century,
O or Ah
uninterrupted, voice
many-stranded.

To breathe
spray. The smoke of it.
Arcs
of steelwhite foam, glissades
of fugitive jade barely perceptible. Such passion—
rage or joy?

Thus, not mild, not temperate,
God’s love for the world. Vast
flood of mercy
flung on resistance.
———-

Music: Mercy ~ Matt Redman

16 thoughts on “The Name of Mercy”

  1. Carla

    AsBlessings on you today Renee as we celebrate this beautiful feast of Mercy.
    Blessings on you today dear Renee as we celebrate this beautiful feast of God’s Mercy. Thank you for the gift you give us each day . I value so much for your daily offerings and the enormous amount of work that goes into each presentation. Happy Mercy to you from Australia👏🏻

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Sue Worthington

    Sr. Renee, Happy Mercy Day to you and all your Sisters! You are a living, breathing gift and blessing to us every day as you share your reflections and wisdom. Celebrating Mercy Day with you with great love and joy and many happy memories!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Maria Heenan

    Special Mercy Day blessings to you. With deep gratitude for the gift of Mercy you are to me and to so many each. So blessed to call you sister. With much love and prayer, Marie Heenan

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Lucille Hillerman

    Thank you for that lovely reflection on Mercy Day! How blessed I am! How thankful that Mercy has touched my life! Thank you, my friend!❤️💛🙏

    Like

    Reply
  8. Colleen Geary rsm

    Dear Renee,
    I have just caught up with your Mercy Day Lavish Mercy. Thank you so much. You are truly gifted and blessed in your writings. I am so glad another Sister of Mercy introduced me to your web-sight. Congratulations on the actual naming of your reflections as LAVISH MERCY, so so appropriate. Your art and choices of hymns are inspiring. No doubt all of these come together from your own stillness and prayerfulness.
    Blessings upon you and yours and all your followers.
    Colleen.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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