A Time to Reflect on the Year of mercy staff meeting, term 4, 2016

Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father, and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him. Show us your face and we will be saved. You are the visible face of the invisible Father, Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing, so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord, and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind.   We ask this of you, Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy; you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen

Merciful like the father Luke 10:25-37 Luke 15:4-7 Luke 15: 8-10 Luke 15:11-32

With the conclusion of the Year of Mercy how do the Parables you have just read resonate with you?

How is your school community being People of Mercy? What still needs working on? Set some goals for 2017.

Guided Meditation

Mercy is not love seeing differences. Mercy is love recognising the great human heart that belongs to us all. Mercy is not love reaching down to another in darkness. Mercy is love reaching across from our own memories of darkness that love has turned into light. Mercy is not a static state. It is love always active, love full of compassion, love ready to forgive, love that gently heals our judgmental attitudes. Mercy is the living presence of Jesus in the world. Joy Cowley

I invited my stranger. “Answer the door,” Love said I invited my stranger. “Answer the door,” Love said. “You have nothing to fear.’ She came in slowly. I put my arms around her and embraced her in her rags, and we wept for the years of separation. I sat my stranger at the head of the table, gave her the best of food and wine and, claiming her as my own, began introducing her to my friends. “But who shall I say she is?” I whispered to Love. “I can’t call her a stranger now.” Love smiled and said, “Don’t you know? She is the Christ in disguise.” Joy Cowley Hospitality I asked love to help me greet the stranger in myself. I knew how to open my door to the world and greet everyone out there as friend, but I didn’t have any kind of welcome for the impoverished one within. She was the weakness I couldn’t acknowledge. She was the pain I didn’t allow. She was the leper I tried to cast out of the city, the one who cried at night in lonely places. I thought if I let her in, she’d cause no end of trouble and I was afraid, But love helped me to prepare a feast, We set the table, love and I and then I did it.