Christmas Greetings to all in the Mercy Family

Each year the Christmas greetings not only impart good wishes and hopes for us all, but they also hold out to us something of the stories of Mercy lived, loved and shared in ministry places and spaces across the Mercy world.

As we bring this year of sharing our global Mercy story to its conclusion —a year in which we have experienced new ways of being connected — we invite all members of our Mercy family to tell us all how it has been for you in your ministry this year - through an anecdote, a greeting, a prayer, a wish, a hope you have or a plan for 2015.

Post your Christmas greeting online on the mercyworld.org site. Send these in by Friday, 19 December.

Messages to: the Editor

The Sisters of Mercy North Sydney wish

       Each of you peace and love
       For carols to inspire you with their old familiar sound.
       For joyful gatherings
       And for quiet moments in your heart on Christmas morn.

God Bless

Loreto
Sisters of Mercy Nth Sydney Australia

Christmas greetings to all connected with Mercy International Association across the world.
We give thanks for 'Emmanuel' - God with us - and rejoice in our capacity to continue to live Catherine's particular expression of God's Mercy for the sake of those who are displaced.

Adele Howard rsm ISMAPNG

The Institute Leadership Team, the Sisters and all who work alongside us in ministry within the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea send greetings for Christmas across the globe. May the gift of hospitality be yours, given and received, during these days leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Together with all people of good will may we embrace the stranger, welcome the outcast and be open to new ways of imagining our world and all of creation as an inclusive place in which we are called to respect the dignity of all.

May you go often to the Bethlehem of your heart
and visit the One who offers you peace.
May you bring this peace into our world.
Joyce Rupp

Wishing you joy and peace at Christmas and throughout 2015.

Anne Ferguson
Coordinator, Office of Mission Animation, Sisters of Mercy Parramatta

A joyous Christmas to you and your family!

This beautiful image comes from an original chair in the foyer of Logan Brae House, donated by Thomas O’Loughlin ESQ KSC in 1909.

Let us take the time over the holidays to celebrate all that is good.

The Team at Rahamim Ecological Learning Centre would like to thank you for what you generously give our community.

Mary-Ann Casanova rsj (Executive Director), Staff and Volunteers
Rahamim Ecological Centre
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
 

May the mystery of Jesus coming into our world in poverty empower us all to continue to work for human rights in a non violent manner. My prayer is that our Young Vinnie Groups that we are beginning here in Southland, New Zealand continue to grow stronger in 2015. This has been an exciting and challenging venture which I think Catherine would approve of and of course Jesus...from a Woman with a merciful heart, thanks to God's grace... Ann

Ann Kennelly
Aotearoa New Zealand

May Christmas be a time for being God-centred, Earth-centred and held in love.
Mary Tinney rsm
Australia

The following quote graces one of our living room walls, ‘The Good News Comes To Us In Unexpected Forms’.
It certainly has in our Mercy Works ministry, most recently when OTML, a mining company, made three helicopter lifts to deliver water tanks to three communities in a mountain area, free of charge. It signifies that reality that partnerships make things happen.

Borrowing another quote this time from Ruth Burrows, we pray that you may ‘be spiritually enriched this Advent and Christmas season’.

Mercy Works Team, Kiunga, Western Province, PNG

Dear Sister of Mercy, Associates, Staff and Volunteers through out the World,

May all have a Blessed Christmas, one filled with Peace and Love. Also may the New Year bring new blessings to each one who is associated within the Mercy world. May Our Lord with Our Lady of Mercy fill your hearts with their Peace, Love and there Parys within this season.

Keeping all in my prayers for each one through the Mercy World

Love Anne Simons - Mercy Associate
Canberra Australia

Sister Colette and the Sisters of the Institute of Our Lady of Mercy, UK, send warm Christmas greetings and blessings to our Sister, Associates, Partners in Ministry and Friends.
The sense of our global family is very real this year after the MIA Celebrations where we saw Mercy alive and active.
It filled us hope for the future and a desire for greater unity and support as we strive to respond to the injustices, inequities and exclusions in our world.
Once more our hearts have been kindled in the fire of Mercy’s flame. Let us continue our journey by sharing the Year of Consecrated Life together. ’For all there has been THANKS ‘For all that will be YES’.

The Filipino Community Choir in Lebanon join Sister de Lourdes (Mercy Union GB) in sending you greetings for Christmas and the New Year.

The choir was founded this year to celebrate the first Philippine Festival in Lebanon. It was a spectacular event of music and song including Christmas Carols. It began with Mass celebrated by the Papal Nuncio followed by a meal of delicious Filipino food.

The Filipinos are a vibrant community in Lebanon. The Sisters of Mercy of the Union, Great Britain support them in all their endeavors.
 

Our Global Mercy family became so alive during our celebrations at Mercy International Centre in September.
It was a wonderful experience and we now take this opportunity, in this holy season of Christmastide, to unite with you again and ask the Lord to extend His many graces and blessings on us all.

The Union of the Sister of Mercy Great Britain

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness does not overcome it.
cf. John 1:1-5

May Light embrace you this Christmas Season and may you be
the Presence of Light, Love, Hope, Peace and Mercy
in our world throughout 2015

With love & blessings,

Mercy Congregational Leadership Team
Rachamim, 13/14 Moyle Park, Convent Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, Ireland.

Dear All,

We thank the Lord for the many Blessings he has given us and the ability to be able to help others less fortunate than ourselves through our prayers, gifts and alms giving.
May the Lord give us the health to continue for 2015.
A Blessed Christmas to All.
Love
Srs Mary and Catherine O’Connor
Australia

Special Christmas Greetings from Dunedin New Zealand to all the Mercy family.

I wish everyone the peace and joy of the Christmas season, remembering in prayer those who are suffering in the world and whose thoughts will most probably be far from the celebration of Christmas day.
May we all have the opportunity to share this special day of Christ’s birth with our families and friends.

With love and God bless

Susan Howard
Ex St Philomena’s College and lifelong Mercy girl

To all those responsible for the Mercy eNews.
Thank you for connecting us to our wider Mercy family.
God Bless and May you have a blessed Christmas and New Year.

Sr Rovena Duffy RSM
Cairns, Australia