dancing through my head…

I enjoy musicals.

Phantom of the Opera.

Wicked.

Lion King.

1776.

Fiddler on the Roof.

Aida.

Mary Poppins.

(To name just a few.)

And my all time favorite,

Man of La Mancha!

(Because everyone should Dream the Impossible Dream!)

But today this musical has been dancing around through my head…

(video clip, Les Miserables, on youtube)

Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France.

How can we show others the mercy of God?

We say that God is compassionate, but do we ignore the poor?

We say that God loves us and has mercy on us, but do we hold grudges against our friends who may not agree with us?

Our actions need to authentically reflect God’s mercy.

As the celebration of our Jubilee year of Mercy winds down in our Catholic Church…may we strive to carry Mercy beyond the end of a calendar and continue to extend it to one another!

The Year of Mercy has been an invitation—

an invitation to love, kindness, and unbounded generosity.

May it never end!

hugs n’ blessings to all those who have accepted that invitation and to those who will continue to carry  this with them beyond the close of the Jubilee!