The Holy Year of Mercy has begun and we asked some people consecrated to God to share with us a short meditation on the words of the Gospel according to Luke 6, 36 - ‘Be merciful just as your Father is merciful’.

‘To be merciful means to learn from the one who is Mercy itself...’

‘Pope Francis announced the Holy Year of Mercy. The Church today draws attention to this point in order that we reflect on the richness of mercy. It is a great need because the world is thirsting for love and forgiveness.

‘Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.’ (Lk 6,36) Reflecting on this sentence from the Gospel according to St. Luke, I got this idea: how great our Father is. Mercy coming from love is the nicest and noblest characteristic of God. Showing mercy is always showing love. To be merciful means to learn from the one who is Mercy itself. Looking at the history of salvation we can see the efforts of a merciful Father, what he does for man, and learn from him.

We Christians are called to follow the heavenly Father. And the cross and Calvary can teach us to be merciful. We learn to be merciful when we look at the cross and in doing so we perceive our own crosses. When man joins Jesus in suffering he learns to be merciful. I wish this time, which the Lord gives us to show us mercy, will be a time used rightly’.

Father Peter

‘Through my relationship with the Father he teaches me to approach other people – in the same way that he does. To have an open, grudgeless heart for people...’

‘To me these words mean to realize the love of the Father and his mercy towards me. It means that I know that I am his beloved son, who is not always faithful, but that his arms are always open to me. It is a tender, compassionate hug which is an expression of his eternal love to me and a repetition of how precious I am to him.

Through my relationship with the Father, he teaches me to approach other people in the same way that he does. To have an open, grudgeless heart for people. Just like the Father with his mercy – to have a heart which is honest, compassionate, tender, merciful, patient and forgiving.

How do you live God´s mercy in your consecrated life and how can you be merciful?

In everyday prayer I personally meet my Father, experiencing his tender love which speaks to me depending on my needs. Then I try to be God’s love present in my community, so that God’s love is shared with my brothers.

And finally, the good news is that God loves every person just as he or she is. He wishes to accept each person the way they are. God wants to change the life of every person through love.

To announce his truth to people across the world and show it by acts of love is a way that we can be merciful towards others. To do small things for them with great love; as Jesus says, ‘I was hungry… I was naked …’ (Mt 25,40)’

Fr Peter, MC