I’m back again for another Five Minute Friday. This weeks word is MERCY. Here goes nothing!!
GO
MERCY. Such a small world with such a HUGE meaning.
When I hear the word MERCY the Catholic in me can’t help but think of the “Lord Have Mercy” response we sometimes say or sing during the Penitential Rite in the beginning part of mass.
There are so many versions of the song and different responses and it’s changed a little over time but it’s one of those responses everyone knows without even needing a song sheet, hymnal, or missal. It’s one of the few things that didn’t change with the new roman missal 2 years ago. (Wow I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since all those changes came into place).
But MERCY can also mean other things. It can be sickness. It was the name of a nursing home I used to pass on my way to work a few years ago. It’s almost the name of the hospital on Army Wives (Mercer).
Confession. Other than that I don’t know much else about the word MERCY…well not enough to write about so I did some research (yes I’m a big fat Five Minute Friday CHEATER!!). I consulted the ever trusty Wikipedia. I found that many different religions use MERCY in some form including Islam and Judaism.
Then of course there is the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Corporal Works of Mercy:
- To feed the hungry.
- To give drink to the thirsty.
- To clothe the naked.
- To harbour the harbourless. (aka To Shelter the Homeless)
- To visit the sick.
- To visit the imprisoned.
- To bury the dead.
Over the years I’ve done every one of the 7 Corporal Works of Mercy without even realizing it was one of the building blocks of my faith. It’s always cool when that happens and then everything just clicks!
STOP
I’m not doing very good at these…I took WAY more than 5 minutes to write this teeny tiny post. And I took a chunk of time to find pretty pictures, videos, and links. I’m a work in progress people. Don’t kick me out of the link-up!!
[…] Five Minute Friday posts have been going up earlier. I posted mine last night. You can read it here. This weeks word was MERCY and I talked about a lot of Catholic Rituals. It’s weird as hard […]