Newsletter
April 2007
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Our Lord’s Divine Mercy:
It is with genuine joy that I write you in this octave of Easter and celebrate with you the central tenet of our faith that Jesus is Risen; He is Risen Indeed! How empty and meaningless our lives would be if all we had was this short life on earth. Yet, because Christ is Risen from the dead, as His brothers and sisters, we too have the gift of eternal life. We must remember that “eternal life” is not something that happens when we die, but that we are living it now. We should be living it now with great joy and zeal.
Many times we seek to be witnesses of Christ’s love to others, but we fail in our efforts at evangelization precisely because we do not radiate joy. We are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders, arguing about seemingly trivial matters, involved in the Church but often being torn up more by the politics of the situations we find ourselves in than actually growing in our relationship with the Lord. Some of our parishes are more like battlefields than places of peace and refreshment. We want to invite people to experience Christ’s loving and merciful embrace, yet without intending it we may collectively be doing more to block their experience of Christ’s love than facilitating it.
Sometimes it all just gets too complicated! Did we not start out on the journey of discipleship because we wanted to come to know and love Jesus more? Of course we did, and yet between the controlling music director, the liberal director of religious education, the new pastor that is changing everything, the parish employees pushing political and/or social agendas, the usher talking too loud in the back of the Church, the factions in the parish, the latest gossip, etc., it is hard to remember why we got involved in the first place. Sometimes I think that truth in advertising would have us hanging banners announcing a parish mission that read: “Come Join Us and Be As Miserable As We Are!”
We need to return to our fundamentals. I think a good place to begin is with kindness. While mercy is more than kindness, kindness it is certainly a big part of it. When I have felt most at home in the Church and most valued as a person is when people have been kind to me. When I have felt most unwelcome and least valued is when I have been treated arrogantly or disrespectfully. I can remember various times being mistreated by a superior and it hurt very deeply. Thankfully in my case I am not referring to actual abuse, but simply being treated in a dismissive and arrogant way. Maybe you have had similar experiences, for example, being yelled at in a confessional, having your opinion or your work discredited, having your motives questioned or being subject to harsh criticism or passive aggressive behavior. Virtually everyone in the Church has been hurt by the Church’s members and representatives in some way. If I am honest I must confess that I may have caused hurt to others too. The balm that is so sorely needed is kindness.
I sometimes close my eyes and imagine how kind Jesus’ eyes must have been. He greeted people with so much warmth, love and kindness. I want our homes, families, parishes and communities to be kinder places. I can remember even decades back when people were kind to me: the math teacher that would stay after school every day and tutor me in ninth grade, the woman that used to bring me granny smith apples in the school yard as I watched the children, the elderly woman who saw me jogging and knitted me a hat so my head would not get cold. Just this year I had been pushing all day and had driven up to Maine to be on retreat with the students at MIT. My legs were sore, my feet were killing me and I walked into the room and there were no chairs. Immediately a young woman got up and said to me softly, “Father, please sit here.” Sometimes these gestures may seem small, but I will never forget them. The best part of me as a person is due to the generosity and kindness of others. My father was unfailingly kind to everyone. I was in the doctor’s office with him toward the end of his life and a woman came in and dropped the contents of her purse on the floor; he instinctively rushed to the floor to help her even though he was not able to stand on his own strength at the time. My mother is always looking out for me and taking care of me. Her love for me is expressed in daily acts of kindness. The story of my life is the thousands of kindnesses people have shown to me.
The Oblates have been most kind to me. I value each and every one of you in a deep and personal way. For example, when I took students to Memphis over Spring Break a few years back, Cheryl and the whole Memphis gang put them up and fed them. Filling your house with college students for a week may stretch the limits of “kindness,” but because of the generosity of Cheryl, Kim and so many others, those students had an experience that will last a lifetime. Every house we went into they saw the image of Divine Mercy. They told me later that whenever they saw that image they knew two things: the people we were visiting were my friends and that they would be treated with great respect and hospitality. They experienced genuine kindness. They will never forget it.
Too often in this superficial world kindness is neglected or seen as unimportant. People treat immigrants, servers or anyone they feel that they have the upper hand on like they are subhuman; people judge the worth of themselves and others by how much money they make, how much education they have, what kind of house they live in. It can never be that way with us! As ambassadors of Christ and of His Divine Mercy we must extend ourselves the most to the people who are treated the worst by the world. In fact, it is here that Christ is found and that our acts and words of mercy, kindness and encouragement can do the most good. We reveal our character the most by how we treat the people who can do nothing for us in return. It is in that vein that I often say to my associates that I am more concerned with what the custodian thinks of me than what the Cardinal thinks of me.
At the Vigil I baptized two men and received a woman into the Church. After the Vigil the woman said to me with such sincerity, “Father, you are so kind.” In the Easter collection basket there was a note to me from a student that read in part: “I want to thank you, Father, for the commitment you bring to the Church and your kindness and love.” Even as I type these words my eyes are filled with tears. I do not share those words to “toot my own horn.” The Lord knows I am not always kind and maybe I have been unkind to some of you (if so, I beg your forgiveness). But my eyes fill with tears because that is what I want to be. I want to be kind. I want to live in such a way as to remind people of my Lord and Master and to bring them to HIM.
St. Faustina was known for her kindness and tenderness. The girls she tended often said that she was a “real Sister.” To the extent that we are kind and merciful, people will be able to say of us that we are “real” disciples. Even in the Church and in ministry, in the end it will not matter how many buildings we built, how well organized our programs were, how well attended our seminars were, etc. What will matter and does matter is if people experience the love of Christ through these opportunities or not. I pray that through our genuine kindness and love many souls will come to Christ and experience His love, mercy and kindness.
Asking God’s blessing upon you on Divine Mercy Sunday and always, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Rev. Richard F. Clancy
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