In this week when we celebrate Earth Day, we each have the opportunity to renew our commitment to care for Earth, our common home. That commitment may take different forms - a change in attitude, a change in behaviour, a change in understanding, a growth in knowledge...

As a sign of our ongoing commitment to respond to 'the cry of Earth', MIA invites each member of the Mercy network to this week pray the Prayer for our Earth from Laudato Si'.

Access the prayer: English, Spanish

Post your own Prayer or Reflection in our online Chapel

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - Executive Director MIA

To coincide with Earth Day 2018, Mercy Global Action has produced a leaflet on SDG Goal #15, 'Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss'. The leaflet 'Protect, restore and promote sustainable land use' can be downloaded here (2pps; PDF).

Leaflets on Goals 1 and 2, 5, 6, 12, 13, 16 are linked to this item.

Messages to: Denise Boyle fmdm - Team Leader Mercy Global Action

Mercy International Association, 64a Lower Baggot St, Dublin, welcomes applicants for its volunteer positions in 2019.

Why not consider volunteering?
Volunteers need to be able to commit to 8 – 12 weeks  between 21 January 2019 & 29 November, 2019
Open to Sisters, Associates and Friends of Mercy.
Single person or couple

Duties: Household Duties * General Reception *Tours * Gift shop 

Requirements: Ability to be a team member* Initiative* Cheerful disposition* Good health & plenty of energy

Hours and other information are linked to this item.

Messages to: Avril Tyrell - Facilities Manager

Image: L-r: Carol Villagio (USA), Phil Murphy rsm (The Congregation) and Patricia Galli rsm (Americas) are volunteering at MIC this month

In the words of Patricia McDermott rsm, President, Institute of Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, ‘The war in Syria is one of the worst cases of war-mongering and war criminality of our time. As Sisters of Mercy we have witnessed  the pain and suffering of victims of violence around the world, especially of women and children. We call on the US government to pursue peace by engaging both allies and adversaries in serious negotiations and diplomacy to end the war in Syria. This heinous war must stop immediately and we need to respond to the refugee crisis with humanitarian aid, not bombs and missiles. Peace is possible, we must seek peace and pursue it!’

Let us join our prayers with this call of the Institute and pray for an end to the conflict, the pursuit of peace, for the welfare of civilians in Syria and for almost five million Syrians who have had to leave the country, seeking refuge and safety.

Messages to: Mary Reynolds rsm - CEO MIA

During this wonderful Eastertime I am aware of two emotions that seem to be felt by those who witnessed Jesus’ dying and his rising – grief and joy.  Think of any story of this Easter season and notice how these feelings well up. My favorite is the scene of Mary Magdalene, arriving at the tomb that Easter morning (perhaps she never left!). Such devotion and love for Jesus yielded grief at the violence of his death and loss she experienced. And then, hearing her name spoken so tenderly again from his lips, “Mary.” And her joyful response, “Rabboni!”

This interplay of grief and joy reminds me of a work of the U.S. poet, Mary Oliver. Oliver notices “We shake with joy, we shake with grief. What a time they have these two, housed as they are in the same body.” We know these feelings and we experience how quickly one yields to the other in our daily life.

As we approach Earth Day 2018 grief and joy can, once again, play out in our experience on multiple levels. In Laudato Sí Pope Francis reminds us that this wonderful world of ours is a sacrament, a place of communion with God and our neighbors. Creation is the venue where the divine and human meet (#9). Oh, what joy to partake in this communion...

Download the complete article: A4 Paper size (4pps, PDF), US Letter size (4pps, PDF)

Messages to: Suzanne Gallagher rsm - Justice Coordinator Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Mid-Atlantic Community

The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas’ Extended Justice Team, made up of justice coordinators from throughout the Institute, is increasingly critiquing the impact of the extractivist development model on Earth and vulnerable communities.

This model is visible in the form of mining for minerals, oil and gas;  pumping water for commercial interests over the needs of local people; taking large swaths of land for palm oil or other cash-crop production that doesn’t feed or support surrounding communities; and building corporate-owned solar and wind farms at the expense of the rights of local people. Its impacts include environmental degradation, the warming of our climate, the lack of access to clean water, and the murders of human rights defenders.

The Sisters of Mercy and our partners earlier this year launched the justresponse.faith website to educate others about the extractivist development model, also known as extractivism, and to call for a response by the larger faith community. An initial conversation has begun around how to minimize our dependence on the extractivist model and throwaway culture, and how to change the systems that foster them.

We would appreciate hearing how you or your community is addressing extractivism.

Messages to: Marianne Comfort

Image: iStock. Used under licence

Kathleen Rushton rsm explains how the vine imagery in John 15:1-7 speaks of friendship with Jesus and abiding in God. Sr Kathleen writes, 'The vine offers a rich and organic view of the Christian life through a spirituality of joy in the earth and our senses'

Download the article here (2pps, PDF)

Messages to: Kathleen Rushton rsm

In 2017, Sisters from the South B Community donated funds to buy solar-powered lights for a clinic in Kungingini, PNG, where some of the Institute’s Sisters minister. The solar lamps have been a great success aiding in providing reliable lighting in the clinic at night – especially while delivering babies.

The project originally came about after South B Community Leader Berenice Kerr rsm heard about the ‘Little Sun solar lamps’ from a student at Sacred Heart College Geelong who went to Sub-Saharan Africa in her Gap year and realised the potential for solar power in the villages...

Messages to: Berenice Kerr rsm

This year we celebrate World Earth Day on Good Shepherd Sunday. The liturgy invites us to reflect on Jesus as the noble or good shepherd of the believing community.

Read the Reflection on the Gospel by Veronica Lawson rsm (ISMAPNG)

Listen to the Gospel read by Fr Eamonn O'Connor (Ireland)

The Earth day network is focussed on ending plastic pollution

Refuse disposable plastic...
Reduce your plastic footprint...
Reuse durable, non-toxic containers...
Recycle what you can’t refuse, reduce or reuse...

1898: House opened in Mornington, Victoria from Fitzroy - M Bernard Whyte

1906: St Mary's Hospital, San Francisco destroyed in earthquake and fire

Contribute a fact about the Story of the Sisters of Mercy in your congregation or institute to our online archive

The Paris Climate Change Agreement opened for signature on 22 April 2016, remaining open until 21 April 2017, in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 1, of the Paris Agreement. 195 States have now signed the Paris Agreement which sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C.

Image: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks to journalists on the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
04 November 2016
United Nations, New York
Photo # 703089

Used with permission

A reflection produced for Earth Day 2018 from Catholic Health USA based on Psalm 148: 7-10, 12 (02:46)

'Going plastics-free is as easy as calico bags and reusable coffee cups.' Read the article here

Three sites each offering additional suggestions for living without plastic:

Five Easy steps to reduce Plastic; Five suggestions

Plastic -Free Tuesday: One day a week no plastic consumption and no plastic waste.

My Plastic Free life:100 Steps to a Plastic-Free Life

Plastic Pollution Primer & Action Toolkit
Produced by the Earth Day Network. Information, resources and ideas. Download it here (53 pps, PDF)