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Many English-speaking Catholics of a certain age, will recall the Stabat Mater hymn (“At the cross her station keeping”) that was so much a part of the praying of the “Stations of the Cross” during the Lenten season: At the Cross her station keeping, stood the...
In his reflection on Mary and her role in God’s economy of mercy, Pope Francis pauses with Mary at the threshold of Elizabeth’s home. He writes in MV #24: Chosen to be the Mother of the Son of God, Mary, from the outset, was prepared by the love of God to be the Ark...
For multiple and varied reasons the month of May has come to be associated with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In the United States it is the month in which Mother’s Day, First Communions, many ordinations and weddings are celebrated. It is also associated in the...
The Madness of Mercy: Jacques Derrida on Forgiveness In this brief meditation (and, quite frankly, rather “thick” in the best sense of the term) we will focus on one key idea by one writer-philosopher - Jacques Derrida. For those unfamiliar with Derrida (1930-2004),...
Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors: Mercy and Justice in the Political and Economic Sphere – Part I We begin with a dream (or perhaps more accurately a fantasy). What, if in the days following what we now refer to as 9.11, people’s minds and hearts turned...
In the previous meditation, we embarked on an exploration of the somewhat tense if not actually tortured relationship between mercy and justice. We also highlighted the various “station stops” we would make along the way. This first such “station stop” simply seeks...
Before moving forward it might prove useful to pursue a series of five meditations on the relationship between mercy and justice. In the first meditation, the relationship between mercy and justice as enshrined in Pope Francis’ Bull of Indiction is noted (primarily...
Every (Sun)Day Is “Divine Mercy” (Sun)Day: Every Eucharist, a Thanksgiving for God’s Mercy Pope Francis issued his Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus (“The Face of Mercy”), on April 11, 2013, the Vigil of the Second Sunday of Easter, now officially inscribed in...
Fool’s Pardon: A Meditation in Two Parts on Mercy as Sheer Gift of Accepting and Offering (Inter)Personal Forgiveness II In the previous meditation (Part I) we explored a type of theoria regarding the nature and characteristics of forgiveness. Before moving forward...
Fool’s Pardon: A Meditation in Two Parts on Mercy as Sheer Gift of Accepting and Offering (Inter)Personal Forgiveness I We begin with a comment concerning the title of this meditation, namely “fool’s pardon.” It derives from the title of a collection of poems by...
