Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.

Psalm 33:4-5

Dear friends,

This opening stanza from our responsorial psalm this Sunday cries out to us as we begin our parish mission. God’s mercy is all around us, if only we have eyes to see it. God wants to show us more and more the wonderful gift of His mercy. This gift comes to us as “we place our trust in Him.” The more we place our trust in Him the more He helps us to see how He is working in our lives and how He is calling us to share His mercy with those around us.

People are longing for love and mercy. The world is a harsh and unforgiving environment. When we encounter true charity and mercy, we are refreshed. We return to it, and want to satiate ourselves from that fount. Christ is that fount of Living Water. Next Sunday we will hear the story of the encounter Christ had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Jesus says to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Not understanding what the Lord is saying to her she asks if He is greater than their father Jacob and Jesus responds, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John 4)

As Jesus hung upon the cross, His side was pierced and blood and water flowed from His most Sacred Heart. The living water that wells up to eternal life poured forth for us from the heart of our savior. He wants to share that living water with us just as He did with the Samaritan woman. As we come to Him and place our trust in Him, He shares that water with us. He refreshes us with His mercy.

Jesus comes to us in His glory and looks at us with the most merciful gaze that we see in the image of Divine Mercy. He shows us His pierced heart and the blood and the water that pour forth for our salvation. At the bottom of this beautiful image it says, “Jezu ufam tobie. Jesus I trust in you.” Drawing near to Mercy itself in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, we learn mercy. Drawing near to the source of Living Water, we need not fear that we should become thirsty. Drawing near to the Bread of Life, we need not fear that we should become hungry. Our heavenly Father knows what we need and gives us Jesus to sustain and fulfill us. As we place our trust in Him we realize this more and more.

It is my pleasure to welcome Fr. Richard Clancy from the Archdiocese of Boston to St. Andrew this week to give us our Lenten Mission, to guide us on the pilgrimage to Christ the Living Water from whose heart flows an ocean of mercy. Come and refresh yourselves at the Fount of life.

Jesus I trust in you,

Fr. Jack D. Shrum