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Since September 2019, we have been exploring dimensions of Mercy Global Presence, beginning first with “global,” moving to “mercy,” and finally to “presence.” Over the past three months, we have begun to braid all the threads together with themes centered on contemplative seeing, a compassionate heart, and mercying. We now conclude all four segments and sixteen themes with a focus on our final theme, “Creating Circles of Mercy and a Culture of Mercy.”

Before we begin to reflect on this final theme, let us recall some of the diverse voices and images from last month’s theme of “Mercying.” In the Introduction, we saw two definitions of “mercying,” one from the book of Micah, “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8), and one from the Hindu holy books with the Sanskrit word for mercy दया (daya) meaning, “suffering in the suffering of all beings.”  The theologian, Mary Sullivan rsm, used images from the Gospels to add depth to these definitions, “We are to be the mat carriers of the paralyzed, the coffin bearers in Nain, the arms on which the lame lean, those who listen to the mute and cry out for wider human listening, those who eat with and try to influence the tax collectors.”  

The artist’s image this month came from the ceramic works of artist Gerald Squires which recognize those who journey in mercy with the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland: (i) the water pitcher which since 1994 is part of Mercy heritage at Baggot Street – it depicts the fishing history of the island and the Basilica Cathedral, built by Bishop Michael Fleming who negotiated with Catherine McAuley to establish the first foundation of Mercy in “the new world”; (ii) a set of panels depicting the history of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital ending with the words from Mary’s Magificat, God’s mercy is from generation to generation, and (iii) a set of panels depicting the words of Matthew 25 (“I was hungry. . .) and hanging in the dining room of The Gathering Place in St. John’s NL...

Spanish translation using DeepL Translator. Traducción al español con DeepL Translator

Elizabeth Davis rsm is the Congregation Leader of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland.
She is the Mercy Leaders' representive on the Mercy Global Presence Guiding Group.

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