Rachel’s Vineyard retreats offer an opportunity for anyone who is struggling with the emotional and spiritual pain of abortion to experience the love and mercy of God.
Tag: Mercy
Graduates leave special legacy of Prayer Club
As schools near graduation season, it’s often a custom for students moving on to their future endeavors to leave a gift — be it a plaque, picture, or some other item in their name as a way to give back to the school.
Why observing Divine Mercy Sunday is so special
To the editor:
This is in response to your Editor’s View piece in the April 24 issue, in particular the paragraphs headlined “Observing Divine Mercy Sunday.” Thank you for writing about it.
The first paragraph seems to indicate that there is some choice on the part of Pope Francis to observe Divine Mercy Sunday. My understanding is that Pope John Paul II made it part of our faith through a papal bull and thus infallible. Pope Francis’ choosing to canonize both new saints on Divine Mercy Sunday is because both are involved in Christ’s request that it be so.
Being ‘with the Lord’
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends,
“With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption (Ps 130:7).” We were reminded in the Responsorial Psalm of this past Sunday. And these are precisely the thoughts to which we should turn our minds and hearts as we come upon Holy Week, Easter, and the celebration of His Divine Mercy.
I would like to take a look briefly at the three major ideas in the above verse, “With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.”
What does it mean to be ‘with the Lord’?
“With the Lord . . .” What does it mean to be with the Lord?
Good Friday Stations of Cross in Madison
MADISON — Vigil […]
Divine Mercy Spanish retreat
MAZOMANIE — The Hispanic ministry of Divine Mercy Parish in Sauk City will be hosting a Hispanic Retreat for Lent at St. Barnabas Church, 410 Cramer St. in Mazomanie, on Saturday, April 5, and Saturday, April 12, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and concluding with a Hispanic Mass at 6:30 p.m.
Planned for the retreat are talks, time to share ideas and ask questions, music, sharing of food, and more. Childcare, complete with child activities, will be provided.
Church as ‘field hospital’: Pope Francis encourages Church to heal wounds, proclaim God’s love
People everywhere are talking about the interview with Pope Francis published in the Italian Jesuit journal, La Civiltà Cattolica, and reprinted in other Jesuit publications.
Rather than relying on media reports about the article, I printed a copy of the article from America magazine and read it myself. It is a wonderful article and gave me much more insight into Pope Francis — not only as our Holy Father, but as a person.
Pope’s humility and the need for God’s mercy
What struck me most was his humility. Here he is, the worldwide leader of the Catholic Church, the successor of St. Peter. Yet at the beginning of the article, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., who conducted the interview, asks Pope Francis, “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” His answer is, “I am a sinner.”
The pope goes on to say, “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” Pope Francis then talks about his motto, Miserando atque Eligendo (By Having Mercy and By Choosing Him). This motto refers to the Gospel story when Jesus called St. Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him.
Focusing on death, life, and mercy
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
“Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of Life, who died, reigns immortal.”
“Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!”
(Easter Sequence – Roman Missal, 1964 translation).
I choose those two lines to focus upon in this Easter Season, because they are exactly reflective of the themes that our Holy Father, Pope Francis struck during many of the early days of Easter. He has asked the question and raised the issue from Scripture, “why do you seek the living among the dead (Lk 24:5)?”
“Death and life have contended,” and life won out, so, the Holy Father asks, echoing the message of the angel, “why do you seek the living among the dead?”
A second point that the Holy Father has focused upon is reassuring us, once again, that no one with a good and open heart is outside the bounds of the mercy of Jesus Christ, won by His death on the Cross, and confirmed by His Resurrection.
And so, we’ve got two words, or groups of words: “death and life,” and “mercy,” on which we should meditate in this Easter season.
Where is mercy in the world?
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Christ died that there might be mercy. Let’s calmly look at our world today, and let’s look around for mercy.
Keeping a promise to God upon receiving papal award
To the editor:
This letter is an attempt to keep a promise I made to God when I first heard that I was receiving the Benemerenti Medal. I felt totally unworthy of any recognition from the pope. When I prayed about it, I realized that God, who has given me so many opportunities to serve other people, expected me to see this as another opportunity. There was a strong sense that there was something I was to share.
That was when I made the promise. As the weeks went by, I began to see the award as a symbol of God’s forgiveness and mercy. Would there be an opportunity to share with others my confidence in God’s mercy?
‘Vision’ becomes better with age
One of the benefits of aging is that our vision improves so much.
What? You say you have more trouble reading the fine print on prescription bottles? And you need stronger light bulbs and magnifying glasses?
Oh, sure, but that’s not the kind of vision I’m thinking about. I’m thinking of hindsight. You know, they always say that hindsight is 20-20.
So here’s what’s so great about it. We have perspective now. We can look back at the things that drove us crazy with worry, like a messy house when guests arrived. But now we know that it was never the picture-perfect house that mattered, but the warmth of our hospitality.