As a religious order, we are dedicated to the compassionate Lord and Divine. My congregation tend to awaken the world to the need for mercy and compassion. We urge the world to travel the part of mercy. Compassion and mercy are the Lord’smost powerful message.

We all will find mercy in all we do. We need compassion and mercy, because we live in an imperfect world. We all know about the elderly, the people who suffered the loss of a family member, the youths who need our knowledge and mercy. Remember people who are suffering from serious illness, divorce, a job loss, or some other personal tragedy.

We have heard of shocking stories of violence, oppression, poverty, prejudice and abuse. While we cannot stop every bad thing from happening, we believe that we can become merciful and compassion in our response to the people in need. We tend to think of mercy as compassion or sympathy, but theword has much deeper meaning, it is more than feeling sorryfor someone.

Having mercy means that we enter into the other person’s suffering. We feel the other person’s pain, see through the other person’s eye, and place ourselves inside the other person’s heart and mind. When that happens, we are moved to respond in a merciful way. We can be merciful because God ismerciful. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. The Lord is good to all, compassionate towards all your works (Psalm 145:8-9). Mercy and compacompassion grows in us as we reflect on how God has been merciful with us.