Feast of Our Lady of Mercy: September 24

September 24

Today
with Mary, Woman of Mercy and
with Sisters of Mercy everywhere,
we remember
all the ways we know
our merciful God ~
the wild beauty of our universe ever unfolding;
the brilliant diversity of humanity maturing into God’s very likeness;
the good lives of those we love;
the disturbing lives of those we find hard to love;
the wisdom and bounty of Providence that lets us dare uncertainties;
those bereft of  justice who call us to become our best selves;
those whose foolishness and disgrace remind us of our own;
the compassion, so quick and abundant, that restores us to ourselves;
the soft, confirming tenderness of forgiveness;
the humbling delight of mystery and
the funny things which make us laugh and laugh.
And in remembering
we give thanks and
we celebrate
our God who immutably
loves us into
life.
 
Our love to all,

Nerida Tinkler RSM, Caroline Ryan RSM and Karon Donnellon RSM
Institute Leadership Team

Artwork: © Lois Parish-Evans 2009

Feast of Our Lady of Mercy – September 24

This year, in our celebration of Mary, Woman of Mercy, may all of us throughout the Institute experience the tender, liberating mercy of God, as she did.

With love from,
Sisters Nerida Tinkler, Caroline Ryan and Karon Donnellon (Institute Leadership).

MARY

for September 24

Here is a girl
about whom we could speculate:
mere, undemanding,
deferring to
tame predictabilities of youth
that offer only
a poor life-time’s obscurity,
suddenly shocked
by wild uncertainties of faith into
mysteries deep-beyond-measure;
then hoping
with hardest hope in
the One Who is All Mercy;
contesting her way to
kindest, wisest womanhood;
and now
herself reflecting
the Merciful One
with feminine genius,
design full of grace and
beauty of a truth unending.