Mercy the Principal Path

Introduction
“You not only have a great history to remember and to recount but also a great history still to be accomplished. Look to the future to where the Spirit is sending you to do even greater things” ¹ (St. John Paul II).

We gather here in Cairns/Newcastle/Melbourne today to tell our story,
to relive our great history, in order to say thank you to God, to strengthen the bonds of unity that exist between us, to deepen our sense of belonging, and to be inspired and challenged into the future.
Time is a most precious gift. From the perspective of time, as we journey on our path in life, - we learn to accept with gratitude our past as Pope Francis says,
(Digress: we cannot change our personal past, but if we learn to accept it with gratitude we can change the impact it has on us in the present) - we use our released energy to co-create the future responsibly -while we live the present as call.
As Catherine McAuley said: “The present moment is where I find God”-
The past is history – the future mystery –the present is eternity
Together we will explore something of the pathway of life walked by this woman Catherine McAuley -a woman who had a real heart for Mercy, so that we may once again take hold of something of the legacy she left us, in the hope of discovering anew ways by which her life can encourage and challenge us, to live the gift of Mercy
as we walk our path of Mercy in our time and in our space