The Road to Mercy

Four songs with line notes for reflection and celebration by Ray Paxton. Reproduced here with permission of Ray Paxton.

These songs were recorded for the AMSSA (Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Association) Conference in Perth, Australia 2009. Student voices: Mercy College Chatswood New South Wales.

The Road to Mercy was composed for the inaugural Mercy International Secondary Forum in Dublin 2006. The lyrics were inspired by the beautiful Mercy Day Prayer Service prepared by Kathleen M Murphy rsm (GB Institute) in 2005 which incorporated text from the Positio.

As We Gather began its life as the psalm 'Lord, every nation on earth will adore you' and eventually, after much thought and reflection, transformed into 'Lord as we gather in Mercy before you'. The song hopes to emphasise the expansive, universal power of mercy. Notions of power are reversed: peace is possible.

Misericordia represents the ethos, or abiding quality of Mercy. We are a community fired with a transformative vision, first proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth and reimaginedthrough the charism of Catherine McAuley. We trust that this transformative vision is made present daily in each learning experience and at all points of relationship in our Mercy schools. Its style is heavily influenced by the Irish ballads I listened to driving around the Irish coastline in 2006.

Send Out Your Spirit is based on the text of Psalm 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-28, 29, 30 from the Feast of Pentecost. The psalm contends that the richness of a bountiful world must be balanced by a wealth of mercy. We have no blessing without both. All who work for Mercy, past, present and future are renewed by the spirit and, in turn, bring about renewal in our communities and beyond.