Spirituality of Mercy
Community is Entrusted to the Parish
Each parish has been entrusted with the spiritual needs of the people in its community. These needs require the parish to be present in the community to evangelize, bring healing, catechize, and form disciples of Jesus Christ, centered in the Eucharist. One way a parish does these things is through staff and volunteers who engage in various ministries which serve either the parish or the community.
Service as Encounter with God
By working and praying together while serving the suffering in our community, we are responding to call to be instruments of God's mercy to serve our neighbors in love. In that call, in our response, in entering into that suffering, and in our neighbors, we encounter Jesus. The more we encounter God in Mercy, we learn to trust in His Mercy and deepen our faith in Jesus Christ.
Service as Evangelization
By inviting people to serve their neighbors in their communities, parish engage in evangelization. The parish becomes like the first evangelizer, the Samaritan Woman (Gospel of John, Chapter 4), when it invites others to encounter Jesus.
Service Brings Healing
Service within the community heals. When we bring God's Mercy into another person's suffering, we will bring healing. This healing arises not only by addressing physical needs, but also by bringing love, dignity, respect, caring, and understanding to our neighbors.
Service as Catechesis
Service is an opportunity for catechesis. It begins with recognizing the dignity of every human being and gratitude for God's creation. We can learn about the unfathomable depth of Divine Mercy when we allow ourselves to enter into another's suffering and bear it with them. By being merciful in response to suffering, we can learn about how God desires us to "share in his own blessed life" (the very first sentence of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).
Service as Disciple Formation
Through service, we encounter Jesus and become better disciples. We can learn through experience what Jesus meant to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and care for anyone suffering, and to acknowledge the dignity of every human being.
Service Centered in the Eucharist
Service is not the end in itself. As St. Paul says, without love, I am just a clanging gong. We do it all for Jesus, and so we must be centered in Jesus. We must therefore be centered in the Eucharist, and the rest of prayer and liturgical life of the church and its sacraments. Service should lead the parish to worship every Sunday at Mass, and receiving the Eucharist at Mass should strengthen us in that Service.
