1.2-CedricPrakashSJ
The other day I was writing a document. Somebody was standing by my side and spilled his whole cup of coffee on it. I had done a lot of work. I had made all my markings. And it was all blotched. At first, I did not know how to react. But now he will never forget the way I decided to react. I just asked him, ‘Shall I make you another cup of coffee?’ These are small, simple, daily things by which we can make a person’s day or break a person. If I’m experiencing God’s mercy for my sins, how do I communicate this mercy—this unconditional love—to the people around me? By being present with them, by listening, by holding a hand, by a touch? I am trying to do it in the small, ordinary things of daily life. It’s not about the extraordinary. When the Lord’s mercy touches me, it influences my attitude and behavior. I become a spark, a way of proceeding. I become a new approach. That is mercy to me. It’s not just ‘Don’t worry about what you’ve done. I forgive you.’ Mercy is not lip service. Mercy is about a tangible, living, vibrant act that forever grows, that deepens.  

MORE STORIES

Rev. Patrick Render, CSV

After 25 years in the priesthood, Fr. Patrick Render was given time for a sabbatical to discern the future direction for his life. He shares some of the wisdom he gained during that time.

VIEW THIS STORY

Basil Brave Heart

Here’s another time my grandmother taught me about forgiveness. We used to go out and pick cherries and plums. Before we started picking the fruit, she would take a little bread and some dried meat, and we would go sit down on the canvas, and then she’d make a prayer: ‘These plums are our relatives,…

VIEW THIS STORY

Constance Caruso

It is never too late to become who you might have been. I was tomorrow’s woman in the 1950s, and I didn’t fit. I was in a job that didn’t fit me because they wouldn’t pay attention that there was somebody in here. I had no sense of my capability. So, I lived each day…

VIEW THIS STORY

Desmond O’Grady, SJ

Desmond O’Grady is a Jesuit priest who served in many prominent positions throughout Ireland. He was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He shares what living with the disease has taught him and how it has changed the way he lives life.

VIEW THIS STORY

Christine Nampande

After my husband died in 1989, his relatives attempted to evict me from our family house and land. I decided to rent land for cultivation. I had to travel four miles from home to that land every day with a child on my back. But I thank God that I reported the case and the…

VIEW THIS STORY

Desmond O’Grady, SJ

Desmond O’Grady is a Jesuit priest who served in many prominent positions throughout Ireland. He was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He shares what living with the disease has taught him and how it has changed the way he lives life. [Interviewer] You have a great sense of, first of all, honesty. You tell the truth…

VIEW THIS STORY