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Earth Day 2019 Reflection: “The Earth is God’s”
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Earth Day 2019 falls on Easter Monday when Christians across the planet are celebrating the mystery of redemption brought about by the crucified and resurrected Christ. On this 49th Earth Day, the human community is being urged to “protect our species.” My initial response to this Earth Day theme was to wonder why the focus was on “our” species, on homo sapiens, the one surviving species of the genus homo. It may well be worth focussing on ourselves and our propensity for self-destruction, but should we not rather be focussing on the other-than-human Earth community and on what “our species” has done to the rest of earth’s creatures? This was my question. My musings as well as my question were, of course, based on a false premise…
Messages to: Veronica Lawson rsm (ISMAPNG)
Vision in Action
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Communication
Thank you!
Many thanks for the messages received from all over the Mercy world acknowledging the news of the four major international awards for the new MIA website.
It is wonderful that we can all celebrate this good news.
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Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: Remember, Stay, Rejoice
As we prepare to enter the Triduum and celebrate these liturgies of Holy Week, may our hearts be open to being with Jesus in the ways in which we are called to be at this time:
The invitation of Holy Thursday to Remember: ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ (Lk. 22:19);
The invitation of Good Friday to Stay: ‘Stay here and keep watch with me’ (Mt 26:38);
The invitation of Holy Saturday to Rejoice: ‘He is not here; he has risen’ (Lk 24:6)
Post your prayer in our online chapel.
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Events & Programmes
Mercy Education Pilgrimage to Baggot Street
Be part of a global education gathering (8-12 January 2020) in the first Mercy classroom (now the International Room) and deepen your connection to the Mercy story and to Mercy education.
Find out more and reserve your place using our booking system.
Members' News
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Aotearoa New Zealand
Handing Over the Spirit: Scripture with Kathleen Rushton rsm
Kathleen Rushton rsm explains John’s version of Jesus’ death as his handing over the spirit at the heart of the universe to all beloved disciples. Sr Kathleen writes ‘Sandra Schneiders suggests each reader/hearer is a Beloved Disciple to whom Jesus hands over the Spirit. Why? To finish the work of God’s ongoing creation and re-creation (salvation)…’
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Fr Michael, Sr Juliet, Sr Patricia, Bishop KevinThe Congregation
Sister Patricia Tomlinson Is Honoured
Sr. Patricia Tomlinson has been awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontificia medal by Pope Francis…
When presenting the award Bishop Kevin paid great tribute to Patricia. He thanked her for all she is doing and said that in the best tradition of consecrated life she is an encourager. Nothing she does is ever about herself. It is always about the service of others…
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Australasia, Americas
Conferences for Mercy Educators
The AMSSA (Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Association) Conference will be held at Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College, North Sydney from 8-10 August 2019. Details on the AMSSA site here.
The 2019 Mercy Education Conference (MESA) will be hosted by Mount Saint Mary Catholic High School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma during October 18-19, 2019. Details on the MESA website here
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Americas
MercyFirst Celebrates 125 Years!
MercyFirst, a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Mercy, is celebrating 125 years of Mercy-filled services. MercyFirst addresses the needs of more than 3,200 children, teenagers and families each year in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties New York...
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ISMAPNG
McAuley House Opens in Ballarat, Victoria
This year brings a significant milestone for McAuley Community Services for Women, with the opening of their first service based outside Melbourne. McAuley House Ballarat will bring their model of integrated support – a proven method of eliminating homelessness for women – into regional Victoria…
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Sister volunteers including Fran Repka rsm (front, centre) & Judy Mouch rsm (front, right)Americas
Restoring Human Dignity at the Border
One of our Critical Concerns as Sisters of Mercy is immigration, which includes not only the care of those who are immigrants, but also the effort to understand and address the causes that compel people to leave their home countries…
Mercy Matters
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Technical Tip
26 Incredibly useful things You Didn't Know Google Calendar Could Do
Advanced options, shortcuts, and features for Google Calendar.
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Fact
On This Day
1958: Mercy Secretarial High School opened, Albany - M Renee Hosey
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
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Reflection
Reflection for Holy Week
Prepared by Catholic Health USA.
Additional Holy Week Resources (new for 2019) can be found on our site here
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Gospel
21 April 2019. Easter Sunday Year C
Easter Vigil Luke 24:1-12; Easter Sunday John 20: 1-9
‘It does not always pay to discount someone’s story just because it sounds a bit fantastic. In Luke’s resurrection account, that’s what the “eleven and all the rest” do with the women’s stories of a rolled-back stone, no body, and heavenly interpreters...'
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Reflection
'Once in a Blue Moon': A Reflection for Earth Day
Stunning time-lapse video by Luke Taylor of 1038 individual images, timed to replicate the real-time speed of the full moon rising over Byron Bay, Australia on 31 July 2015. Original music by Jessica Roemischer.
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Resource
An Earth Day Prayer
As we are called to see ourselves and each other as earthen vessels that hold God's presence and bring God's gifts to the world, so too, this very world and all that is above, around and within it are earthen vessels - just as easily shattered, just as much in need of our loving attentiveness and support. May our hands align with God's in caressing and shaping these vessels…
Further Resources
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Worth Reading
The Visual Commentary on Scripture
The Visual Commentary on Scripture gathers a company of artists with whom to encounter the Bible
Experience it hereWorth Reading
'The clock is ticking' on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals
‘Pointing to climate change, inequalities and other serious challenges, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a forum on Thursday Development that “the clock is ticking” down, to making the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development…’
Read the article hereWorth Knowing
The Renegade Nuns who Took on a Pipeline
The US Region of The Adorers of the Blood of Christ religious congregation resisted the building of a pipeline on their land in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with nonviolent protests. Unsuccessful in their Supreme Court appeal, they are currently weighing up their options. The ‘New Yorker’ reports the story this month.
Read their inspiring story here)
Worth Reading
NCR: New Series 'Our Common Home'
"Our Common Home" is a special NCR reporting series that through people, places and issues explores the role of faith and religion in responding to climate change
Read the first articles)
Worth Playing
Miserere mei, Deus - Allegri
Gregorio Allegri's Miserere mei, Deus performed by the Tenebrae Choir, conducted by Nigel Short. Filmed at St Bartholomew the Great, London
Listen hereWorth Reading
What Survival Looks Like After the Oceans Rise
At the site of a Bangladeshi town lost to devastating storms, locals make do by
scavenging what remains.
Worth Knowing
Pope: human trafficking a crime of the “commercialization of the other"
Pope Francis on April 11 addressed participants in a Vatican conference that examined the implementation of the Pastoral Orientations on Human Trafficking.
Read the item hereSend suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2019 to The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘Like a great waterwheel, the liturgical year goes on relentlessly irrigating our soul, softening the ground of our hearts, nourishing the soil of our lives until the seed of the word of God itself begins to grow in us, comes to fruit in us, ripens us in the spiritual journey of a lifetime.’
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Mercy eNews
The online newsletter of Mercy International Association is published fortnightly, 24 weeks each year and distributed to subscribers via email.
For more information on the directors click here
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