What the heck is mercy?

When I heard that Pope Francis was proclaiming this year as an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, my first response was “Well that’s great, but what the heck is mercy anyway?”  I knew what the basic definition of mercy was, but I did not understand why it was so important that Pope Francis would dedicate an entire year to it.

In typical Becky fashion, I did what I do best when I want to learn more about a topic: I read, and read, and read some more (I’m still reading actually).  Months ago, I began delving into God’s mercy, and I am blown away by this amazing gift from God.  Mercy is counter-intuitive to anything that the secular culture teaches.  Reading and studying on this topic makes me realize just how much I need God’s mercy and rely on it.  Let’s be honest, we all need God’s mercy.  I am left with a hunger to go even deeper into understanding mercy in this Jubilee year.

What are we going to do? 

During the next several months, mercy is going to be the theme of the weekly blog posts on my website.  Each week, we will break down mercy into bite-size pieces so that we can attempt to wrap our heads around it and chew on it a bit so that we can apply it to our life. I am excited to bring in some new voices in the next few weeks that offer unique perspectives on mercy also.  I will introduce them to you as they begin to share their wisdom with us this month and in the following months.

What will this series on mercy include? 

The series will take a look at:

• What is Mercy?
• Jesus, The Face of Mercy
• How God’s Mercy Endures Through Us
• How do we live out mercy in Ordinary Times

Are you ready to walk through the door and learn why mercy matters?  

I know I am!  I hope you will join me, too, during the Jubilee Year of Mercy on this journey to understand what mercy means and why mercy matters.

• If you are not subscribed to my weekly email, do so here!  (If you received this post today via email, you are all set.)
• Please invite your friends, family, and colleagues to join us, too, so that we can enlarge our community of people seeking to understand mercy and to live lives of mercy.
• Join in the conversation about mercy on social media using #MercyMatters

Get ready!   We begin in just a couple of days….Our first topic will be:  Mercy:  God’s Ongoing Creation.

Becky Eldredge

Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She is the author of the Busy Lives and Restless Souls (March 2017, Loyola Press) and The Inner Chapel (April 2020, Loyola Press). She helps others create space to connect faith and everyday life through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, through writing, and through spiritual direction. With nearly twenty years of ministry experience within the Catholic Church, Becky seeks to help others discover God at work in the every day moments of people’s lives by utilizing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the many gifts that our Catholic faith and Ignatian Spirituality provide.