Page 5 - Catholic Extension Magazine - Spring 2016

“Ultimately, what we are called to confess is our experience of God’s merciful love, which is so much stronger than all our shortcomings and our separations.”
original meaning of avowing and giving witness to our faith. Ultimately, what we are called to confess is our expe- rience of God’s merciful love, which is so much stronger than all our shortcomings and our separations.
In this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis is inviting us to feel the power of what Pope
St. John XXIII called the “medicine of mercy.” It can be for us a source of healing, a source of reconciliation, a source of deeper peace and deeper connectedness in life. We are meant to be more connected; and the face of that connectedness is mercy.
At Catholic Extension
we feel blessed to continu- ously experience the power of God’s mercy in the esh when we witness all the ways in which mercy is being lived by faithful men and women, often in very challenging situations of poverty and disconnectedness. rough our work with so many inspiring Catholics around the country, we keep getting invited into experiences of compassion, of oneness, of
Extension | Spring 2016 5
healing and of reconciliation. We then get to tell that story and get to invite you into these experiences. rough participating in the work of Catholic Extension, you too can experience faith and mercy in action.
In building up Catholic faith communities, Catholic Extension makes it possible for these communities to become signs of reconcilia- tion, of healing, of hope and of new possibilities and leads people to discover deeper ways of being alive to each other. ese faith commu- nities become places where God’s mercy is tangible.
In the famous Prayer of St. Francis, we pray, “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.” What we are praying for is to become expressions of God’s mercy. We can be this, and Lord, please make me this. And that is also Catholic Extension’s plea: Lord, make us instruments of Your peace.
And so, in this Year of Mercy, we ask God not just for mercy for ourselves but to help us be God’s mercy
for others, just like the Good Samaritan was and just like so many faith communities around this country continue to be.
Come join us!
Rev. John J. Wall
PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC EXTENSION