Entering Canaan

Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

Mercy! So Great a Gift

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Theresa Bonopartis

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There is perhaps no greater gift than to experience the power and beauty of mercy. Yet it is a gift that is often wrapped in pain and in the humiliation of having experienced the true weight of our sins. It is no accident that the opening words of our Lord’s proclamation were “Repent and believe the good news.” (Mk 1:15), specifically in that order. For unless we know the bad news, the good news is no news. To repent is to come to a new mind that, beholding God’s glory and holiness, sees the need for mercy. But oh, the glory then of the good news: mercy is available in abundance! God will never reject anyone who calls on Him (Jn 6:37). Oh, the relief, the peace of knowing the effect of those words spoken by God through His priests: “I absolve from your sins … go in peace.” Msgr. Charles Pope

Mercyhand

In case you missed it… Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. recently posted a very beautiful article on God's Mercy. 

Mercy! So Great a Gift – Why Many Parishes Need to Reconsider When They Offer the Sacrament of Confession By: Msgr. Charles Pope

At tonight’s Chrism Mass, the Cardinal chose to focus his remarks to the more than 300 priests in attendance on the beauty of the Sacrament of Confession and the power of mercy. What a magnificent gift the Lord gave His Church through the ministry of priests, that we can hear His blessed words, I absolve you from your sins … go in peace.

 
My mind goes back to a beautiful story of St. John Paul II and a certain bishop (not of my own diocese). The story was told by the homilist at the funeral of this bishop over a decade ago and I was in attendance. Sadly, the bishop had a fall from grace and was forced to resign after an affair he had with a woman had come to light. Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation but within a month asked the bishop to come to Rome for a meeting. It was with some trepidation that the bishop made the journey. He was led into the meeting room by the usual Vatican staff, but, strangely, they all stepped out of the large, ornate room leaving him quite alone for a few minutes. The door opened and in walked Pope John Paul II, not with his usual entourage, but alone. The bishop was apprehensive, not knowing what to expect. He had let the Holy Father and God’s people down and a thousand nervous thoughts rushed through his mind. As he drew close, Pope John Paul II extended his large, muscular arms and put a hand on each shoulder of the bishop. He looked him in the eye and said, “Are you at peace?” 
 
Relief and a profound sense of mercy flooded the bishop’s heart; his eyes often filled with tears as he recounted the story years later. None of us who heard it at the funeral failed to be moved either. The rest of the meeting with the Pope was never related by the bishop, who held that close to his heart, but he emerged reconciled and at peace. He spent his remaining years quietly ministering to several cloistered religious communities.
 
Read the rest here.

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Reclaiming Our Children

“because nothing is definitively lost…”

St John Paul II

Reclaiming Our Children (ROC) was formed and incorporated in 2001 as a 501c3, the lay apostolate of the Entering Canaan post-abortion ministry.

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