PROVIDENCE — “No matter what we are facing, no matter how desperate our circumstances, no matter how much pain we must endure, God’s mercy overcomes and endures forever,” Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., told Rhode Island Catholic at the conclusion of his MERCY21 Challenge.
The challenge, which drew more than 2,500 participants from across the diocese and beyond, delivered each day from the bishop a reflection on mercy, a practical way to exercise the content of that reflection and a prayer for mercy. The daily reflections, exercises and prayers were drawn from the seven Corporal and seven Spiritual Works of Mercy and the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching.
It was during the waning days of summer that the bishop developed the initiative to bring mercy to top of mind at a time when it was sorely needed most.
During the end of August and into early September, tensions were building across the U.S. to a crescendo in the late season heat.
On Aug. 27, a gunman took aim at students from his alma mater, Annunciation Catholic School, as they prayed at Mass in the adjacent parish church. Three were killed, including the gunman, while 30 students were injured. Two weeks later, on Sept. 10, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down while leading a rally on the campus of Utah Valley University as hundreds of participants were left in shock at the brazen killing before their eyes.
“Our world is hurting,” Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R. said in promoting his initiative.
“Every day we encounter wounds in the lives of our families, neighbors, and parishes: families divided by immigration struggles, communities strained by political and ideological conflict, economic burdens that weigh heavily on the young, families, and the elderly, and deep questions about human identity, sexuality, and the meaning of life. What’s missing right now is mercy,” he said.
On Sept. 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Bishop Lewandowski launched his three-week, MERCY21 Challenge.
Secretary for Evangelization and Pastoral Planning Michael M. Lavigne said the bishop’s sense of timing in providing the faithful with an outlet that would encourage them to perform works of mercy when they were sorely needed couldn’t have been better.
“Talk about Divine Providence,” Lavigne said.
“Bishop Bruce’s instincts were so good in terms of what people need right now. I think that’s part of what we saw in the people participating in and reacting to the exercises in the Challenge. Thank God for Bishop Bruce,” he said.
The bishop was even involved in the design of the logo and the words promoting his initiative.
“He cares so much about this idea that he came up with that he walks with us and he’s in constant communication.”Lavigne remarked on how the topic of forgiveness was discussed on the first day.
“People were remarking on forgiveness in the way that the message spoke about it and it was challenging them,” he said.
Many of the participants, who could express their thoughts openly in the Flocknote forum, spoke of how they were inspired by the lessons to forgive people for things that they had done to them.
“No matter what we are facing, no matter how desperate our circumstances, no matter how much pain we must endure, God’s mercy overcomes and endures forever,” Bishop Lewandowski said.
It was with a poignant personal reflection that Bishop Lewandowski set a tone for another type of mercy in October.
In his biweekly column then in Rhode Island Catholic, the bishop spoke of how Walter, a former parishioner from his years of ministry in Baltimore, whom he called “an exemplary Catholic man” who helped found the parish’s Knights of Columbus chapter, was recently deported after being nabbed by ICE agents as he was on his way to work as an electrician. He was working to provide for his wife and two young children, with all of whom the bishop was also very familiar from their active parish community lives.
The column touched the hearts of many who may not have seen the divisive issue in such a light until now.
On Oct. 5, the Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska and the conclusion of the program, several participants offered personal reflections on the group’s discussion board on what they had experienced in the MERCY 21 Challenge.
“How inspiring and impactful your daily emails were,” posted Jay. “In an often over-complicated and rushed world I found your daily emails and action items to be a powerful and reflective way to start my day.”
Another participant, Jane, found the MERCY21 Challenge to be stimulating.
“Thank you so much for this thought-provoking and totally relevant series. I have personally gotten so much from it,” she wrote.
Lavigne’s team also heard from a young girl whose mom participated in the challenge.
“My mom is a completely different person now after doing it. Our family even started going to Mass again.”
Serafim thanked the bishop for creating the forum to discuss the topics for the three weeks.
“I have cherished these messages of mercy and will try to carry out the teachings I have received. Thank you so much,” he said.
Bishop Lewandowski said that as people of faith, we believe that prayer is an essential part of our response to the challenges in our world.
“It is my hope that it will make our little corner of the world a better place where mercy is readily given and received,” he said.
“Through the experience, I felt a kind of solidarity, a sense of unity.”
“God’s mercy unites us. God does for us that which we cannot do for ourselves—we are healed, forgiven, and redeemed!” Bishop Lewandowski exclaimed.
