I seem to be learning this year that: When I feel I have a weakness, God, in his mercy uses it to show me strength. Knee surgery made me wonder if I could do anything active; but through amazing “coincidences” I’ve found a new love of backpacking. I had to let go, and God showed me God’s love and abundant blessings.
Renewal through Compassion
Fr. Christopher Gibson, CP
Renewal through Compassion within our own lives
I find it important to include the spirit of the “Seventh day” in my life. This basically means slowing down to find time to nurture the spirit through contact with the Lord through prayer and spiritual reading, resting, caring for my health, cleaning up around me to make my environment more dignified to live in, get into some hobby, take a walk, etc.
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion within our Ministries and Mission
Working with Food for the Poor helps me to be constantly aware of those who are struggling to survive, who lack the most basic needs in life. Food for the Poor meets the physical and spiritual needs of people by providing food, housing, emergency relief and more to the poorest of the poor in the Caribbean and Latin America. I will not only go out to preach on their behalf, like the coming weekend when I travel to a parish in Indianapolis, but also go over some of the printed matter on the plight of so many, or watch a video clip on YouTube after typing in “Food for the Poor” and taking all this to prayer.
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion through our global community
I try to keep abreast of what is going on at a global level. Catching up with the international news is important for me. I am no doubt very concerned about the thousands of refugees pouring into Europe and realize the challenge that the Europeans face given the impressive numbers. To see the Prime Minister of Canada receiving personally a group of refugees with a warm welcome, accompanied by a group of kids singing in Arabic for them as they were met at the airport, is truly an expression of compassion!
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion toward our environment
Use but not abuse. We are administrators of God’s creation and not owners. Giving name to creatures is being respectful. We can learn a lot from the first nations of our land in this sense. I try to live this out in my own life and will carry on doing so to use everything with moderation, be it water, electricity or paper, recycling but also avoiding producing a lot of garbage, avoid as much as possible throwing food away, etc. But along with this, it is important to develop a spirit of gratitude and prayer: ” thank you Lord for the gift of water which is readily available to me with the option of hot and cold…for the gift of shelter…for food…for heating or cooling…for eyes to see…ears to hear…etc. How many lack these things and so much more that we take for granted?
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion within our communities
There are so many little gestures we can do to be sensitive to those around us from picking up after someone who accidentally left a plate unwashed, from moving to the center of a pew in church so that people don’t have difficulty getting in if we sit at the end of an empty pew, from being patient with the cars in the parking lot who are waiting to leave after Mass, from not only greeting and smiling at a person nearby, but also asking how they are, how they are feeling or showing empathy in other ways. The important thing is to have a true sense that the other matters and deserves my attention to reach out to them: the Spirit suggests concrete actions to take at every moment of the day. These are countless gestures that add up over time.
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion through vocations
s a vocation director, I have to be attentive to where the Holy Spirit is leading a particular young person with whom I am journeying. To help that young person become aware of what concretely the Lord is asking of them is my task. I never encourage young men to join the Passionists, for instance, if the Spirit is leading them elsewhere, but when there is an identification with the Passionist charism and style of living, then I help develop that vocation to become explicit and enthusiastic, preparing the way for the young person to enter in one of our communities to reside with us if they have the requirements needed.
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion in education
As a formator, I try my best to give all the time a candidate needs to be formed in the Passionist way of life, even if this means being pressed with time and having to make sacrifices to be present to those needs that a candidate deserves. Special care I would give to a young person who is just new in residence: making sure that he has all that is needed
Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center: Pilgrimage Site for the Year of Mercy
On December 3, at the beginning of the Thursday Community Mass, the Holy Door was created and sealed by Jim Strommer with the Passionists present among the faithful. The door remained sealed until December 13, when the community gathered once more with celebrant Tom Bonacci, to take their first steps through the Holy Door with great reverence and rejoicing. Delegates from each of the eight parishes in the deanery filled the chapel!
For more information, visit Christ the King’s website: http://www.christthekingretreatcenter.org/events/year-mercy-pilgrimage-site.
To Experience Forgiveness is to Experience Mercy.
Mercy is central to Catholic theology. Pope Francis describes it as, “Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.” (Misericordiae Vultus 2)
Forgiveness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation are fundamental actions in experiencing mercy and allowing it to work in us. When we acknowledge our own sinfulness and seek forgiveness, we experience God’s mercy. Our response to God’s gift of mercy is one of gratitude that compels us to extend mercy to those around us.
According to Father Bob Weiss, C.P., “It seems today that we handle the forgiveness of sins in two ways. First, the most common one, we deny that we even have sin. We forgive our sins by saying they are not sins in the first place. That’s the easiest way to forgive sins. It is a very false way. They are not forgiven at all, because sin distorts and twists. Whether we know it’s a sin or not, it makes us crooked. So sins are not forgiven by saying there is no such thing as sin anyway.
“The other way to forgive sin is to acknowledge that we have to confess our sins. We acknowledge we are guilty. We recognize we did the wrong thing and seek God’s forgiveness.”
Forgiveness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation are fundamental actions in experiencing mercy and allowing it to work in us.
Father Bob, who has a background in Scripture scholarship, finds Psalm 51 to be a “dandy one” for the Hebrew understanding of sin and forgiveness.
Verse three of the Psalm reads: “Be gracious (ḥānan) to me, O God, according to your loving kindness According to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgressions.” (NAS)
The verb ḥānan depicts a heartfelt response by someone who has something to give to one who has a need. It often has the sense of showing kindness to the poor and needy.
“We are total products of God’s mercy. When we get the gift, we have to use it. That gift of mercy has to work in us,” explains Father Bob.
“Often people say ‘I can’t forgive myself.’ Well that’s’ true. Only God forgives. We can’t forgive ourselves. There is nothing we can do to expiate our guilt. Jesus expiated our guilt on the cross. By his blood we are washed clean.
“That’s why the Sacrament of Reconciliation is very important for experiencing mercy. To experience forgiveness is to experience mercy.”
Renewal through Compassion
Fr. Christopher Gibson, CP
Renewal through Compassion within our own lives
I find it important to include the spirit of the “Seventh day” in my life. This basically means slowing down to find time to nurture the spirit through contact with the Lord through prayer and spiritual reading, resting, caring for my health, cleaning up around me to make my environment more dignified to live in, get into some hobby, take a walk, etc.
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion within our Ministries and Mission
Working with Food for the Poor helps me to be constantly aware of those who are struggling to survive, who lack the most basic needs in life. Food for the Poor meets the physical and spiritual needs of people by providing food, housing, emergency relief and more to the poorest of the poor in the Caribbean and Latin America. I will not only go out to preach on their behalf, like the coming weekend when I travel to a parish in Indianapolis, but also go over some of the printed matter on the plight of so many, or watch a video clip on YouTube after typing in “Food for the Poor” and taking all this to prayer.
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion through our global community
I try to keep abreast of what is going on at a global level. Catching up with the international news is important for me. I am no doubt very concerned about the thousands of refugees pouring into Europe and realize the challenge that the Europeans face given the impressive numbers. To see the Prime Minister of Canada receiving personally a group of refugees with a warm welcome, accompanied by a group of kids singing in Arabic for them as they were met at the airport, is truly an expression of compassion!
Click here to return to our Lent 2016 webpage.
Renewal through Compassion toward our environment
Use but not abuse. We are administrators of God’s creation and not owners. Giving name to creatures is being respectful. We can learn a lot from the first nations of our land in this sense. I try to live this out in my own life and will carry on doing so to use everything with moderation, be it water, electricity or paper, recycling but also avoiding producing a lot of garbage, avoid as much as possible throwing food away, etc. But along with this, it is important to develop a spirit of gratitude and prayer: ” thank you Lord for the gift of water which is readily available to me with the option of hot and cold…for the gift of shelter…for food…for heating or cooling…for eyes to see…ears to hear…etc. How many lack these things and so much more that we take for granted?
Dan O’Donnell
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