On 24 September each year, the feast of Our Lady of Mercy is celebrated throughout the world by Sisters of Mercy, a religious order of women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. The sad plight of the young, unemployed and homeless girls at risk in Dublin haunted Catherine and when she inherited a substantial sum of money on the death of her 'adopted' parents, she decided to use it to build what we could call today a refuge for women and children. She called it a 'House of Mercy' and it was opened on the 24 September 1827.
Prayer
May the God of strength be with us, holding us in strong-fingered hands, and may we be the sacrament of God's strength to those whose hands we hold.
May the God of peace be with us, stilling our hearts when they hammer with fear or doubt or confusion; and may the warm mantle of God's peace cover those who are troubled or anxious.
May the God of dreams be with us.
With all the dreamers who have gone before us, like Catherine McAuley, may we come to trust in God's dream for us.
May we open ourselves to become what God envisioned at our birth and may we have the courage to be the reflection of God that we are.
Amen.
Adapted from Mercy International Association Prayers for Remembrance Day
