Retreats help prepare for the Year of Mercy

Friday, Nov. 06, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Mercy was on the minds of those who gathered for two retreats Oct. 29 at St. Vincent de Paul Parish.

The five-hour retreat for seniors included celebration of Mass and lunch. It drew 120 people, which “says an awful lot about the people who have a great love for the Church, and a great mission to pass it on to their children and grandchildren,” said Susan Northway, director of the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Office of Religious Education, who organized the events.

The other retreat was shorter and more intimate: eight women who have young children ventured into the evening rainstorm for a two-hour discussion.

Dominican Father Wayne Cavalier of the Congar Institute, a ministry of the Southern Dominican Provence, led the retreats. The focus of both was Misericordiae Vultus, the document announcing  of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which Pope Francis has decreed will open Dec. 8. 

Misericordiae Vultus is Latin for “the face of mercy;” the title comes from the proclamation’s first line: “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.”

At the beginning of both retreats, Fr. Cavalier asked the participants their definition of mercy. He then led a discussion about the icon that is being used as the logo for the Year of Mercy. The icon depicts Jesus, bearing the marks of the Cross, carrying a man on his shoulder. 

Much of the icon’s symbolism was discussed, including that, because the faces share an eye, it represents that “Christ dwells in us and we dwell in Christ,” just as in the Eucharist, Fr. Cavalier said. “When we celebrate Communion, we celebrate our acceptance of God’s invitation to join his community, to be one with the Trinity.”

In his homily at the Mass, which was celebrated in the church, Fr. Cavalier said many people may feel undeserving of God’s mercy, but “there is nothing that can come between us and the love of God – nothing, except ourselves.” 

After the Mass and lunch, the participants returned to the theme of mercy. 

“Jesus isn’t just teaching about a merciful God, Jesus is – by his words, his actions, and his entire person – revealing the mercy of God,” Fr. Cavalier said, adding that Pope Francis is calling for people to enter into this mercy.

Following a discussion of the parable of the Good Samaritan, which Jesus told in response to a question about whom one should consider a neighbor to be loved as oneself and thus gain entrance into Heaven, Fr. Cavalier said, “the way to God is to love as God loves, to become one with God. ... to join our vision to God’s so we can see as God sees. … This is what Pope Francis really wants from us in the Year of Jubilee: Everyone, without exception, is called to embrace the call to mercy. As we have received mercy, so we are called to be merciful.”

Among those at the retreat for seniors was Angie Pak, a St. John the Baptist parishioner who just moved to Utah. During the discussion, she was reminded that mercy without action is useless, she said, and during the Year of Mercy she plans to work on being slow to judge and slow to anger.

The retreat was an opportunity to spend time in reflection and talk with others about God, said St. Francis of Assisi parishioners Al and Kristine Christianson.

Sharing ideas of the meaning of mercy helped Al Christianson “get a better understanding of what is meant by the mercy of God,” he said; he also plans to read Pope Francis’ book “The Church of Mercy” “to see how I can apply myself to his message and what he would like for us to do.”

During the Year of Mercy, “I hope to open my heart more,” said Kristine Christianson.

In closing both retreats, Fr. Cavalier touched on the spiritual and corporal works of mercy; Pope Francis, in Misericordiae Vultus calls for Catholics to practice these works during the Year of Mercy.

People must live a life of mercy not only in their personal relationships but also on a societal level, Fr. Cavalier said.

“We must build a society that reflects the values of the reign of God. … As the Body of Christ we become the face of mercy,” he said.