By Sister Mary-Paula Cancienne — We live in upheaval. Among the questions we must ask are, what does it mean to be human, how should we act, and what is our vision for society? Human sexuality and gender identity issues are among the questions our society must face with an openness to new insights and with a commitment to lifelong learning.
By Sister Peg Sullivan — Have you ever thought about what it must have been like to be present on that first Pentecost? The apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit when they had the tongues of fire come to rest on them and immediately began to proclaim what Jesus had taught them. These were the same people who had cowered in fear just a short time before and who were now filled with a courage beyond themselves.
By Sister Pat Kenny — If the Easter narrative taught us nothing else, it did confirm the inevitable truth of joy and sadness in our lives. Wild elation and profound grief will be part of every life; not once or twice, but over and over during the lifetime of every person old enough to understand joy and sadness. Everyone will experience soft and ragged edges of each.
By Sister Victoria Incrivaglia — In the process of rebirth, there are times when both the blossoms and new leaves of the dogwood tree are present simultaneously; both are present to each other yet knowing that change will happen. The engagement of this process is a journey.
By Sister Maria Teresa Muhuhu
— Responding to Earth’s cry is a sacred calling for Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in Jamaica and the Caribbean. It is not optional. At stake are the lives of the people we serve—women, children, migrants, people made poor—and the very existence of the beautiful islands we call home.
By Sister Theresa Saetta — As Sister Pat Mulderick and I woke up to a bright and shiny day, we learned that the tent city camp in Reynosa, Mexico, that housed over 2,000 immigrants awaiting asylum in the USA was bulldozed. The families had to scramble to collect their important documents while the authorities screamed at them to get out…now!
By Sister Suzanne Gallagher — “Lord, make me a channel of your peace.” These words from the “Prayer of St. Francis” are familiar to many of us. They beg the question, “How can we be channels of God’s peace in a world where so much violence surrounds us?”
By Mercy Associate Maritza Isabel Paredes Gomez — For the first time in the history of Honduras, the citizens voted for a woman to assume the presidency of the Republic. But not only that: Xiomara Castro is the candidate who has obtained the most votes in the country’s political history, which gives her a high degree of legitimacy.
By Jean Stokan, Institute Justice Team member
By Kayla Buxton, Program Coordinator, Mercy Ecospirituality Center — As the seasons change and we in the Northern Hemisphere emerge from another COVID winter, I’ve been thinking about place, how to live authentically from our roots, and what happens to us when we build relationship with the land we call home.
By Mercy Volunteer Naiomi Gonzalez — I don’t know what my future holds. I wish God would tell me, “Hey, Naiomi, after this year you need to do X,Y,Z,” but for some reason, God doesn’t work like that (at least in my life). I do know, that for the next few months, I’ll be working in a job I love in an environment where my supervisor and colleagues believe and support one another.
April is National Poetry Month! Follow along on our Stories of Mercy blog and enjoy poems from Mercy students on the theme “Love of the Natural World.”