Year of Mercy Reflection

Friday, Dec. 04, 2015

Editor’s note: During the Year of Mercy, the Intermountain Catholic will publish a short reflection each week written by a variety of Catholics in the Diocese of Salt Lake City: priests, deacons, religious, seminarians, Utah Catholic Schools teachers/principals, lay ecclesial ministers, religious education teachers and others. We hope you enjoy these, and that they give insight into the myriad ways mercy can be incorporated into everyday life. 

 

Pope Francis invites us to celebrate a Year of Mercy beginning Dec. 8, which is also the feast of the Immaculate Conception; and ending Nov. 20, the feast of Christ the King. During this year, Pope Francis is asking us to concentrate on the seven Corporal Works of Mercy and the seven Spiritual Works of Mercy. 

What all of these works of mercy have in common is the focus on another person. Compassion, which is the way we go about living mercy, means that you have the passion of the other person. For example, in this time of preparation for Christmas, many people are focused on gift-giving. Parents listening to their children will quickly discover the passion the child has for this year’s best gift. A compassionate parent makes every possible effort to purchase that gift for their child; the task of the Year of Mercy that the pope is asking of us is to extend that same sort of compassion beyond those closest to us to those who are not so close.  

Prayer is the first step in this direction. Spending a few minutes or more with the Blessed Sacrament is an excellent way of discernment. A time of quiet or reciting a decade of the rosary will bring the Holy Spirit a-calling. 

One compassionate response is to contribute financially to a charity; a better way is to find an organization doing charitable work and give your time. Nowhere in the list of spiritual and corporal works is giving money listed (although as a pastor I am not opposed to people giving money.)  

The challenge of the Year of Mercy is to walk with someone who once was a stranger but who becomes a person with a name, a family, a history, a life. Often people fear those who are different from themselves, but compassion and mercy always overcome fear – accept the challenge of the Year of Mercy to discover this for yourself.