Dear Friends,

Well here we are at the beginning of a new Church year in the wonderful season of Advent – those precious few weeks of reflection and preparation of heart and mind, before the great feast of Christmas.

I love it that, at this time of year, when the world is telling us to hurry up and get through the list of things to be done before Christmas – shopping, food preparation, social events – the Church is telling us to slow down, reflect, wait, repent. What a breath of fresh air that counter-cultural message is.

We also recently closed the door on the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which was called by Pope Francis. I for one, will miss the Year of Mercy. It was a powerful reminder of the essential nature of our loving God and our calling to share God’s love with others, especially those on the margins.

I think of the images of Pope Francis throughout the year, visiting those in jail, in hospitals, those living with disability, the poor, the homeless, refugees.

Of course, the reason these images are so powerful is because they are so authentic. Pope Francis doesn’t just do these things in the Year of Mercy. They are an authentic part of who he is. Rather, the Jubilee year was intended to wake us up and to focus our eyes and our hearts and minds on the Mercy of God and our response to this great mercy.

And we know that the closing of the Year of Mercy doesn’t mean that we wash our hands of mercy. Quite the opposite. Pope Francis called this Jubilee Year to stress the importance of mercy in the ongoing journey of Christian life. We read in Lamentations that: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”.

It’s a wonderful truth, that God’s mercies are new every morning. No matter what has happened the previous day, we wake knowing that on this new morning God wishes to shower mercies on us and wrap us in his love. But if that’s as far as we go, then we fall down, because we’re missing the point. We receive God’s mercies fresh every morning precisely so that we can go out into this new day and shower this mercy we have received on the people we meet – from the breakfast table to the board table – this is our task and our joy as Christians.

As Divine Word Missionaries we are committed to working with the poor and the marginalised and sharing God’s love with them in whatever way they need us to. The people you meet in your life will have their own needs to which you can respond.

Let’s head into this new Church year and the Advent season recharged by all that the Year of Mercy gave to us and look for fresh opportunities to reach out in love to those around us.

Yours in the Word

Fr Henry Adler SVD

Provincial.