August 23, 2025

It was on the waves of deep emotion,
that we came to Philadelphia under the name of Mercy.

My name is Marie Matthey-Doret.
Yes – are you surprised?
Not all of the original ten were Irish!
I was born in Limoges, France,
of a Swiss father and French mother.

Many languages could be heard in my family home.
Fine arts and the love of music filled my early days with beauty.
Perhaps it was there that the love of teaching
began to grow in me
and my dream of mercy was born.

Even though I was also the first Mistress of Novices,
all of us who began in 1861 were teachers
in one way or another.
This was the first gift of mercy
that we sought to offer this dear city.

We didn’t know the way for certain.
We heard God’s voice and held God’s hand
and we stepped out in faith to do the work of love.
This is the way the dream unfolds.

I know the sisters have retold a thousand times
the story of our very first schools…
But some here may not know that story.
After all, it was a tiny house where we first lived.
Ten of us had to create sleeping quarters in all available spaces!

But in the morning, rooms that had been bedrooms and chapel
were quickly remodeled into classrooms for the children
and women who would come to learn that day.

We joked that these rearrangements were our “morning exercises”!
Each day, we would laugh as the children arrived
And think “Oh, if they only knew!!!”
Would your students at the Academy not be surprised
to think of that today?

I have watched your “morning exercises”
through the intervening years.
They’ve changed somewhat –
Quite a bit of electricity involved today! –
but still …
such devotion to the lives of children.
Just to think of all those schools and
all those students
touched by the unfolding of the mercy dream.

The beauty of music and language
Wrapped my spirit like a deep blue sea.
From that beauty,
I have sent you waves of blessing from heaven
And smiled to hear the laughter and
The songs of Mercy children
Across these hundred fifty years.

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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?

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Suggested Scripture: Psalm 127
improvised by Rev. Christine Robinson

Unless the house is built solid, and
for the right reasons, the work is in vain.
When the right thing is done at the right time,
it endures like a house built on a good foundation.
When a nation is governed justly and wisely,
it is safe from all manner of danger.
When you do what you can each day with due diligence,
you sleep deeply at night, trusting God for the rest.
Attend well to the next generation.
The children are God’s gift to us,
and their good upbringing our gift to God.