Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

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Mercy is a double blessing

February 27, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Mercy is a double blessing

In his play The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare wrote, “The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” (Act IV, Scene I). In his Lenten message, Pope Francis echoes the words of the Bard, writing, “God’s mercy transforms hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn … Divine mercy shines forth in our lives, inspiring each of us to love our neighbor and to devote ourselves to what the Church calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.”

Sometimes it is good to refresh our memory on the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that, “The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.”

“These works,” the Pope continues, “remind us that faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbors in body and spirit: by feeding, visiting, comforting and instructing them. On such things will we be judged; for this reason I expressed my hope that ‘the Christian people may reflect on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; this will be a way to reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull in the face of poverty, and to enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s mercy.’ ”

We must keep in mind that the poor include not only those in poverty but those poor in spirit, of whom Our Holy Father writes, “The real poor are revealed as those who refuse to see themselves as such. They consider themselves rich, but they are actually the poorest of the poor. This is because they are slaves to sin, which leads them to use wealth and power not for the service of God and others, but to stifle within their hearts the profound sense that they are only poor beggars … [but] by touching the flesh of the crucified Jesus in the suffering, sinners can receive the gift of realizing that they too are poor and in need.”

Therefore, mercy is not just something that is to be received. It should move us to be merciful to others so that the double blessing is not simply the giving and receiving, but being inspired by mercy to be merciful to others.

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: Mercy

This is a time for mercy

February 21, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

This is a time for mercy

When John XXIII solemnly opened the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, he said, “The Bride of Christ prefers to use the medicine of mercy rather than arm herself with the weapons of rigor.”(Gaudet Mater Ecclesia).

I believe that this is a time for mercy. The Church is showing her maternal side, her motherly face, to a humanity that is wounded. She does not wait for the wounded to knock on her doors, she looks for them on the streets, she gathers them in, she embraces them, she takes care of them, she makes them feel loved.

“Mercy exists,” the Pope points out, “but if you don’t want to receive it…if you don’t recognize yourself as a sinner, it means you don’t want to receive it, it means that you don’t feel the need for it … The first and only step required to experience mercy,” he then added, ”is to acknowledge that we are in need of mercy. Jesus comes for us, when we recognize that we are sinners.”

Those who are in the habit of judging people from above, who are sure of their own righteousness, who are used to considering themselves just, good, and in the right, don’t feel the need to be embraced and forgiven. And there also are those who feel the need but think they are irredeemable because they have done too many bad things.

“More than half a century ago,” Pope Francis recalls, “Pope Pius XII said that the tragedy of our age was that it had lost its sense of sin, the awareness of sin. Today we add further to the tragedy by considering our illness, our sins, to be incurable, things that cannot be healed or forgiven.”

“Perhaps,” he continued, “we lack the actual concrete experience of mercy. The fragility of our era is this, too: we don’t believe that there is a chance for redemption; for a hand to raise you up; for an embrace to save you, forgive you, pick you up, flood you with infinite, patient, indulgent love; to put you back on your feet. We need mercy.”

Filed Under: Pope Francis Tagged With: Mercy

The Name of God is Mercy

February 14, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

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In Pope Francis’ new book, his first since his election to the Chair of Peter, the Pope explains why mercy has become the hallmark of his Papacy and how it provided the title of his book, The Name of God is Mercy.

Recalling the words of Pope Benedict, “Mercy” Pope Francis points out, “is in reality the core of the Gospel message; it is the name of God himself, the face with which he revealed himself in the Old Testament and fully in Jesus Christ, [the] incarnation of Creative and Redemptive Love. This love of mercy also illuminates the face of the Church, and is manifested through the Sacraments, in particular that of the Reconciliation, as well as in works of charity, both of community and individuals. Everything that the Church says and does shows that God has mercy for man.”

We as disciples, individually as Christians and collectively as Church, are instruments of God’s mercy in the world today. We are called, “to be instruments of mercy because it was we who first received mercy from God, to be generous with others, knowing that God showers his goodness upon us with immense generosity.”

This is uniquely true In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where, “the apostles and all their successors—the bishops and their colleagues the priests—become instruments of the mercy of God.” They act “in persona Christi,” in the person of Christ, to mediate God’s forgiveness. “The Lord never tires of forgiving: never! It is we who tire of asking him for forgiveness. We need to ask for the grace not to get tired of asking for forgiveness, because he never gets tired of forgiving.”

The Holy Father tells of a priest who once told him, “I forgive a lot and sometimes I have doubts, I wonder if I have forgiven too much? — We talked about mercy and I asked him what he did when he had those doubts.” This is what he said: “I go to our chapel and stand in front of the tabernacle and say to Jesus: ‘Lord, forgive me if I have forgiven too much. But you’re the one who gave me the bad example!’ ”

When Peter asked how many times he should forgive someone, Jesus said, not seven times but seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22), or in other words, always.

The Holy Father’s book would be wonderful reading for Lent (and for always). It is readily available in bookstores and online in both book and eBook formats.

I will be writing more about it throughout the Lenten season.

Filed Under: Being Catholic, Pope Francis Tagged With: Lent, Mercy

Pope Francis to the gatekeepers: Don’t close that door

March 17, 2015 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Pope Francis to the gatekeepers: Don’t close that door

Reminding us that Jesus’ house is inclusive not exclusive, Pope Francis said in his homily March 17 at Santa Marta Church in the Vatican that the Church “is the home of Jesus and Jesus welcomes – but not only welcomes, goes to find people.”

Addressing the self-appointed gatekeepers of the Church who seem more interested in keeping people out of Jesus’ house than inviting them in, the Pope asked, “Who are you who shuts the door of your hearts to a man, a woman who wants to improve, to return back into the people of God, because the Holy Spirit has stirred his or her heart?”

Catholics do not shun sinners, nor do we shoot our wounded. We do what Jesus would do. The Holy Father asked, “If people are hurt, what does Jesus do? Scold them because they are hurt? No, he comes and carries them on his shoulders. This is called mercy,” he added, “and when God reprimands his people – ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’ (Matt 9:13, Hosea 6:6) he speaks of this.”

The Holy Father went on to say that Christians who have made mistakes and are moved by the Holy Spirit to return home to the Church only to find the door closed, must hear the words, “You have done wrong and you cannot. If you want to come, come to Mass on Sunday, but stay there, but do not do more.” To these gatekeepers, the Pope said, “You cannot, no, you cannot,” concluding with “That which the Holy Spirit does in the hearts of people, Christians with the psychology of doctors of the law destroy.”

Our challenge is to find ways to bring people to Christ in his Church, not seek ways to drive them away.

Filed Under: Pope Francis Tagged With: Mercy

Catholic Charities Sunday – November 2nd

October 28, 2014 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

 

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Charity is touching another with the love of Jesus. But because Jesus has no hands but ours, His mercy, His compassion and His love is mediated through us. We are the instruments of His love.

Charity should begin at home, but it must not end there. In the Gospel of St. Matthew (25:31-46) Jesus reminds us that we must reach out to the hungry, those who thirst, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison. If we are unable or are ill equipped to do that personally, then we should enable those who can. That is the ministry of Catholic Charities of Dallas.

Some are able to give generously of themselves but if we cannot give of ourselves, then we can give of our substance. Gifts to Catholic Charities welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, give hope to the desperate, and bring the compassion, love and mercy of Jesus to the hungry, the immigrant, the homeless, the despairing and the lonely.

Blessed Mother Teresa said “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” Each of us needs to put a lot of love into our gift to Catholic Charities next Sunday. It is a way of lending Jesus your hands and your heart.

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: catholic charities, compassion, giving, Love, Mercy

Mercy is at the center of the Gospel of Christ

September 10, 2014 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

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In Wednesday’s General Audience,  Pope Francis returned to his favorite subject…mercy, and gave his reasons for doing so.

“Like a good mother and educator, the Church focuses on the essential, and the essential, according to the Gospel, is mercy, as Jesus clearly tells his disciples: ‘Be merciful, just as your father is.’ Is it possible for a Christian not to be merciful,” asked Pope Francis. “No. The Christian must necessarily be merciful, because this is at the center of the Gospel.”

Following the advice of Aristotle (Rhetoric), who advised speakers to tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you told them, the Holy Father is dedicated to clarifying the core message of the Gospel, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)

Continuing, Pope Francis added, “And so the Church behaves like Jesus. She does not give theoretical lessons on love or on mercy. She does not spread throughout the world a philosophy or a path to wisdom. Certainly, Christianity is all of this, too,” the pope remarked, “but as a consequence, a reflection. The mother Church, like Jesus, teaches by example and words serve to cast light on the meaning of her gestures.”

Referring to the Last Judgment passage in Matthew 25:35-46, Pope Francis explained that mercy is witnessed by parents who teach their children that what is left over is for those in need, by those who visit the sick and elderly in hospitals and rest homes, by the people who care for those who have been abandoned, and by those who are close to the imprisoned, recalling that “each of us is capable of doing what these (imprisoned) have done.”

Concluding the reflection, the Holy Father said, “The Church is a mother teaching her children the works of mercy. She has learned this path from Jesus; she has learned that this is essential for salvation. It is not enough to love those who love us. It is not enough to do good to those who do good to us in return. To change the world for the better, it is necessary to do good to those who are not able to do the same for us, as our Father did for us, in giving us Jesus. How much have we paid for our redemption? Nothing. It was all free. Doing good without expecting anything in return – this is what our Father did for us and what we too must do.”

Jesus is the incarnation of the Father’s mercy. As his disciples let us be witnesses to his Gospel of mercy and love.

Image Credit: CNS photo/Paul Haring

Filed Under: Pope Francis Tagged With: church, Mercy

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About Bishop Farrell

Bishop Kevin Joseph Farrell was appointed Seventh Bishop of Dallas on March 6, 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.
   
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