The Limitlessness of God's Mercy

MENDHAM  Perhaps most Catholics identify more with faults of the brothers in the Parable of the Prodigal Son — either the reckless younger brother, who squanders his part of his inheritance or the dutiful older brother, who condemns him and demands that their father reprimand him. Yet Jesus is really urging us to become like the father in his story — the person, who opens his heart fully to bestow mercy on other people, just as God the Father bestows His mercy on us.

So declared Sister of Christian Charity Ann Marie Paul, director of the Passaic Neigh­borhood Center for Women, in her presentation about mercy, during “An Afternoon of Mercy” on April 3, Divine Mercy Sunday, at Mallinckrodt Convent here. This afternoon of worship, prayer and reflection was part of the Sisters of Christian Charity’s observances of both Divine Mercy Sunday that day and the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which the universal Church will continue celebrating until it ends in November, said Sister Bernadette McCauley, director of postulants and vocations, who organized the devotional event.

The “Afternoon of Mercy” started with Sister Ann Marie’s talk at Mallinckrodt Convent, the motherhouse of the local community of the Sisters of Christian Charity. Afterwards, participants —50 religious from the community and two lay people — prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet, followed by an opportunity to pray the Stations of the Cross or rosary or reflect privately on the convent’s bucolic grounds. Then, they gathered in St. Joseph Hall for refreshments, before heading to the chapel for Holy Hour that included Exposition with the Blessed Sacrament and evening prayer that concluded the afternoon, Sister Bernadette said.

“We are called to be more merciful, as the Father is merciful,” said Sister Ann Paul, who examined the fullness of God’s mercy, as symbolized in Jesus’ parables of the Prodigal Son and Good Samaritan. She added that the Prodigal Son illustrates the limitlessness of God’s mercy through the loving actions of the father in the story. “Back then in ancient Israel, the father could have disowned the son. Instead, he runs out to the son — something that adults would not have done then — just as Jesus runs to the sinner and the tax collector. We too need to respond [to people who hurt us] with mercy,” she said.

Sister Ann Marie began her reflection quoting Pope Francis in “Misericordiae Vultus,” his introductory letter for the Holy Year: “We need to use the medicine of mercy instead of the arms of severity.” Actually, the pontiff was quoting St. John XXIII at the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. She described mercy by borrowing from the following definition by Cardinal Walter Kasper in his book, “Mercy: the Essence of the Gospel and the Key to the Christian Life”: “the unexpected and unmerited gifts of God’s grace.”

At the end of her reflection, Sister Ann Marie brought the reality of God’s mercy back to their religious order by referring to its constitution. The document echoes a teaching of its founder, Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt, who declared, “We should not have eyes to see the faults of others.” Instead, we should have a merciful heart to bestow compassion on all, she said.

“The words of Blessed Pauline can lead us to be more merciful,” said Sister Ann Marie, who also noted that their founder’s contemporaries commented on her openness to dispense mercy, especially in correcting members of her religious community “with a loving heart.”

The “Afternoon of Mercy” dovetails with the sisters’ other observances for the Jubilee Year of Mercy — activities that they mapped out during a meeting at their motherhouse. During the gathering, they asked, “How can we reach out?” So far, they sang at a local nursing home, visited the sick and elderly, donated items to a women’s shelter and purchased outfits for two children receiving their first Holy Communion. Once a week, the sisters in formation participate in a retreat, “Consoling the Heart of Jesus,” by Father Michael Gaitley of the Congregation of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. They learn “what they can do to be Christ’s loving mercy,” Sister Bernadette said.

“Sister Ann Marie related the Divine Mercy in a practical way to our everyday lives, showed how we can become like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son and connected it with Blessed Pauline,” Sister Berna­dette said. “The ‘Afternoon of Mercy’ was simple, inspirational, meaningful and inviting.”