Mercy Global Presence (MGP) 'Integrated' Themes Are Gifts For This Laudato Si' Week
Writing about the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins in her presentation for the March theme ‘Contemplative Seeing’, Jo O’Donovan rsm (The Congregation), alerts us: ‘Hopkins invites us to a contemplative seeing of earth and our place in it, a seeing with our feet on the ground and a “faith with eyes wide open.”’ In her reflective prayer for the current theme ‘Compassionate Heart’, Sandra Lupi rsm (Brisbane) quotes Joyce Rupp’s prayer: ‘Heart of Compassion, the Healing One weeping for a world burdened and bent…’
24 May marks the ‘soft launch’ of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, a series of goals for Catholic organisations to reach in a 7-year journey to total sustainability in the spirit of Laudato Si’. This Laudato Si’ Week (16-25 May), and as we each prepare for our MGP Gatherings (25-27 May), let us bring our contemplative gaze and our compassionate heart to our reflection and action on behalf of Earth and people ‘for we know that things can change’ (LS #13).
Vision in Action
Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: Laudato Si' Week
Prayer
MIA Prayer Intention: Laudato Si' Week
‘As we contemplate new understandings of our world, let us pray
God of wisdom,
Help us to embrace new ways of seeing our world and our connections
with all living beings.
Open our hearts to others
as expressions of your love.
Inspire us to encourage, empower and enable others to seek new ways of living the Gospel in a changing world.
Help us to live always with love, peace, mercy and justice.
Amen’
Source: Mercy Partners Laudato Si’ Prayers (PDF)
Post your prayer in our online chapel
MGA
Internship Opportunity at MIA-MGA Office in New York Now Open
MGA
Internship Opportunity at MIA-MGA Office in New York Now Open
An intern position at Mercy Global Action Office in New York is now open. Applications will be received until the deadline of June 9th, 2021.
This is a volunteer position five days a week for 11 months. A stipend is provided to assist with some food, housing and transport.
Download the role description here (PDF).
Further information, including the voices and experiences of past interns, is linked to this item.
Applicants should send a letter of interest and a resume to Colleen Swain.
MGP
Reflective Posters on Segment Four 'Integrated' Now Online for May Gatherings
MGP
Reflective Posters on Segment Four 'Integrated' Now Online for May Gatherings
The posters for Segment Four, Themes One and Two and accompanying reflection guides are now available here for download.
Bookings for the Regional Gatherings are being confirmed as received. Bookings remain open until the day before the Gathering. All are welcome to participate in a Gathering or Gatherings.
If you have already registered for any of the Gatherings you should have received an email with the zoom link and details of the Gathering.
MGA
Mercy Global Action Network Called to Recognise Nakba Day
MGA
Mercy Global Action Network Called to Recognise Nakba Day
May 14th marks Nakba (Catastrophe) day for the Palestinian people. At a recent gathering of the Mercy Global Action Network, Sr Kathleen Rushton called on the Mercy World to acknowledge the Palestinian people and to make an effort to learn about the significance of Nakba and its implications. We are invited to listen to Indigenous Palestinians in a significant document**, ‘A Cry for Hope: A Call to Decisive Action. We cannot serve God and the oppression of the Palestinians’.** Published less than a year ago by Kairos Palestine and Global Kairos for Justice, it calls on all people of faith for decisive action in relation to the people of Palestine over their continuing loss of land since 1947…
Members' News
Aotearoa New Zealand
Jesus Prays for All Disciples
Kathleen Rushton rsm discusses how John 17:6-19 can challenge and support our commitment to justice in the world. Sr Kathleen writes: ‘As a Christian community, we need to confront modern human slavery and worker exploitation in our world — and eradicate it.’
Download the article here
Brisbane
All Hallows' School Celebrates 160 Years of Mercy Education
The 10th of May is always a special day at All Hallows' School but this year, the celebration of the School's Foundation Day was particularly special. This year, we celebrated the 160th anniversary since the arrival of Mother Vincent Whitty and her companions who, soon after their arrival, started what we now know as All Hallows' School.
Students began the day by creating a 160 formation on the terrace lawn which we filmed and photographed using a drone. The images are a stark reminder of just how much we have grown as a school community. Mother Vincent Whitty would never have imagined that her school would be educating nearly 1600 students each day…
Americas
Rosary of Creation
Sister Anamaria Siufi of Argentina has created a Rosary of Creation for individual and group reflection on quotes from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si. The rosary is made up of three videos: the joyful mysteries, the sorrowful mysteries and the mysteries of the fullness of the universe. A brief guide offers suggestions for how you might pray these with a group.
Mercy Matters
International days
21 May, International Tea Day
2021 marks ten years of MIA's Good Cup of Tea. Join us this year in the ‘Season of Mercy’ - from Mercy Day (24th September) to Foundation Day (12th December) - and share in a Good Cup of Tea with your family and friends.
All funds raised from these events will go towards the Heritage Redevelopment at Mercy international Centre.
Duccio di Buoninsegna - Pentecost. Public domainGospel
Pentecost Sunday, Year B
John 20:19-23
'Pentecost Sunday is often called the birthday of the Church. For the ancient Israelites, Pentecost (meaning “fiftieth”) was a harvest festival celebrated 50 days after the beginning of the harvest. When the Jerusalem Temple was built, this harvest festival was transformed into a pilgrimage feast to celebrate the covenant that God had made with Israel on Mt Sinai. In the decades following the death of Jesus, the early Christians reflected on their origins and chose this feast to mark the birth of God's new covenant with God's people...'
Resource
UISG: Leadership in Times of Crisis- Religious Leaders Share Congregational Resources
Digital Life
NASA’s View of Earth, in Music
Discover what NASA’s Earth data sounds like when it’s turned into music.
Fact
On This Day
1897: Foundation to Bridgeworth from Shrewsbury
Contribute a fact from the story of your Mercy congregation, institute or federation, to our online archive.
Resource
9 Days of Prayer (Novena) for the Care of Creation
The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has prepared nine days of prayer reflecting on the account of creation in the book of Genesis. There is an online version and a downloadable version (PDF)
Further Resources
Worth Reading
Every Country Has Its Own Climate Risks. What’s Yours?
An interactive exploration of global climate risks
Insert where you live and see how your country compares
Worth Reading
Latest Issue of The Yale ISM Review Now Online
‘How do music, the arts, ritual, and worship affect the way we experience disasters? How do they help us make sense of death, loss, and anguish? In a year that has been marked by disaster for so many people across the globe, these questions are as important as ever. This issue of The Yale ISM Review invites readers to explore these questions in several different contexts…’
Access the articles exploring these questions
Worth Knowing
Matthew Fox: 'Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic and Beyond'
In introducing us to the teachings of Julian of Norwich in their reflective prayer for MGP Segment 3, Theme One ‘Presence Of, To and With God’, Josephine Davies rsm and Cathy Edge rsm (GB Institute) alerted us to the fact that Julian lived at the time of the pandemic known as the bubonic plague. Matthew Fox in his latest book offers the next step in understanding Julian’s insights and their relevance for our time.
Order the book from iUniverse (ebook or soft cover)
Worth Reading
Catholic Social Teaching
‘*Rerum novarum,* Pope Leo XIII's encyclical “On Capital and Labour” which was published on 15 May 1891, is considered to be the founding text of Catholic Social Teaching. Explore the body of teaching, often called “the Church's best kept secret”, that has developed in the 130 years since.’
Read about Catholic Social Teaching on Thinking Faith >>
Worth Watching
Clare Sands, Steve Cooney & Tommy Sands perform ‘Abair Liom do Rúin (Tell Me Your Secrets)’
The second in a four part collaboration
‘Tírdreacha agus Fuaimdreacha’ (Landscapes and Soundscapes) by Clare Sands with Irish artists. The first, ‘Carry My Song’ was the musical highlight in Mercy eNews issue #906.
Worth Knowing
The Laudato Si' Action Platform Overview
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is being ‘launched’across the world on Monday, May 24th 2021.
All of us are invited to a public commitment to begin the journey.
Vision for Action – the purpose of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform is: To create communities around the world totally sustainable in the spirit of the integral ecology of Laudato Si’…
Send suggestions and contributions for the ‘Worth’ Section 2021 to: The Editor
The Bottom Line
‘This Pentecost, let us look again. In this age of colliding catastrophes, the urgency of the moral and spiritual connection of humanity, creation, and Creator has been starkly unveiled. Yet the vision of Pentecost still shines…
Indeed, if need is the criterion, now is the best of times for the rush of a mighty wind of renewal. The pain of a fearful future threatens every particle of creation. We need the hope of the Pentecost vision of life and love. Yet how are we to become ecclesial communities fired by love of the Lord and united by passion for [God’s] people and [God’s] creation? Where shall we look for the Pentecostal hope that gives birth to a new heaven and a new earth?…’ Read more
Mercy eNews
The online newsletter of Mercy International Association is published weekly, 48 weeks each year and distributed to subscribers via email.
For more information on the directors click here
