)
)
)
Sharing Christmas Greetings 2019
As we bring this year to its conclusion, we invite you to share a Christmas greeting with the global Mercy community.
Messages to: the Editor
)
From President MIA Members
Christmas Greetings across our common home to each member of the Mercy Family.
As I came to write this message my mind became filled with images of this past year – images of our Earth home groaning, breaking, burning, desolate, flooding, drought-stricken, sinking, suffering from extreme heat, severe storms and the effects of neglect. Intermingled with these are images of humanity at our best – Mercy Global Presence caring and advocating for our common home and one another.
In my corner of the world in the Asia/Pacific Region we have the beautiful images of the kindness of strangers to those who have lost loved ones in the volcano eruption in New Zealand; to the over six hundred who have lost their homes in bush fires in Australia; to those affected by earthquakes in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. We see images of our Earth’s youth advocating for action on climate change and the students of our Mercy schools taking action on issues of sustainability and care for Earth our Mother.
Jesus is with us this Christmas in the presence of each loving and compassionate person – each of you. May you know how our God loves and cares for you as you bring God’s Mercy to the minds, hearts and bodies of all you meet. We are one in this Child given as gift to bring Hope to Earth.
-Mary-Louise Petro rsm- President MIA Members
From MIA Board Chair
This year we celebrated the Silver Jubilee of Mercy International Centre and reminded ourselves that Jubilee calls us to free the oppressed. As we celebrate Christmas, may we let that call echo in our hearts and commit ourselves anew to an ongoing response to’ the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’. And may we remember:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flocks,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
Howard Thurman
Let the work of Christmas begin! Let’s begin it together- Sisters, Associates, Partners in Ministry, families and friends.
On behalf of the Directors of MIA Board, I wish you the gifts of the first Christmas - joy and peace- and the abundance of Catherine, in whose heart it was always Christmas!
-Ron Ashworth - Chair MIA Board
From CEO MIA
“Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited.” -Thomas Merton
This Christmas, may we recognise and welcome the ‘uninvited’ Christ in the migrant, the refugee, the homeless, and like Mary, who wrapped her new-born child in swaddling clothes and placed him in the manger, may we work to provide a safe and welcoming world.
Christmas Blessings to our Sisters, Associates, Partners in Mercy, Donors and Friends from all at Mercy International Centre
- Mary Reynolds rsm - CEO MIA
Un saludo fraterno de navidad a toda la comunidad mercy al rededor del globo terráqueo, que en esta época de amor Nuestro Señor Jesús nazca en nuestro corazones. Recordemos el nacimiento de nuestro Señor haciendo obras de misericordia con alegría, amor y mucho ruido para que todos sientan el llamado a hacer la misericordia con nuestro prójimo.
Un abrazo y muchas bendiciones de parte de la comunidad de la misericordia de La Ceiba, Honduras.
Saludos de parte del Instituto María Regina (Mercy school) y Circle of mercy.
-Wilmer J. Garcia. (Circle of mercy).
A fraternal Christmas greeting to the entire Mercy community around the globe, may our Lord Jesus be born in our hearts at this time of love. Let us remember the birth of our Lord by doing works of mercy with joy, love and much noise so that all may feel the call to do mercy to our neighbour.
A hug and many blessings from the Mercy Community of La Ceiba, Honduras.
Greetings from the Maria Regina Institute (Mercy school) and Circle of mercy.
-Wilmer J. Garcia. (Circle of mercy).
Translated from the Spanish using DeepL translator
)
)
)
May God grant us a blessed and joyous Christmas. May she sustain us as we continue to tend the light that is breaking within and among us.
Many Blessings during this Christmas Season.
From all the Sisters of Mercy in Guyana, South America.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Merry Christmas from the Mercy Education System of the Americas!
Christ Jesus, your coming brings the grace of gentleness into our world where violence is so prevalent. As we celebrate your birth, may we welcome one another as sisters and brothers and raise our voices together for those who suffer oppression.
¡Feliz Navidad del Sistema de Educación de la Misericordia de las Américas!
Cristo Jesús, tu venida trae la gracia de la dulzura a nuestro mundo donde la violencia es cada vez más común. Mientras celebramos tu nacimiento, que nos demos la bienvenida como hermanas y hermanos y alcemos nuestras voces juntas para aquellos que sufren de la opresión.
)
)
)
The Conference for Mercy Higher Education—the network of 17 Mercy colleges and universities in the US—wishes all the grace and peace of a blessed Christmas season.
May God prosper the work of our hearts, minds and hands in Mercy in 2020!
)
The Sisters of the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy, G.B.
send greetings to our Mercy World for a Christmas and
New Year filled with blessings of hope and peace.
May the love of God be born through us this Christmas,
so that a bright star may once again emerge
bringing HOPE and PEACE into our fragile world.
The God of hope, who brought love into this world,
is the love that dwells between us.
The God of hope, who brought peace into this world,
is the peace that dwells between us.
The God of hope, who brought joy into this world,
is the joy that dwells between us.
The God of hope, the rock we stand upon, be the centre,
the focus of our lives always.