Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,
As Saint Thomas teaches us, it was out of overflowing goodness, of love, that God created the universe; it was out of the same Divine goodness that He communicated Himself to the world in the mystery of the Incarnation at Christmas.
Another word for this goodness and love is “mercy,” especially when we consider that this love comes down from Heaven to meet the tragic figures of Adam and Eve exiled from Paradise—in other words you and me.
We have now begun, in the Roman Catholic Church, an Extraordinary Jubilee dedicated to Divine Mercy. This is no trifling event. There is nothing the world so needs at present, there is nothing each one of us so needs so urgently as this mercy that God would give us. As the Holy Father, Pope Francis, explained in his Bull of Indiction:
We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life. Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.
One dimension of Divine Mercy that affects us monks in a most consoling manner is to have so many and so thoroughly dedicated friends to surround us and support us in every way. Please know that at Christmas this year, as in the past, you will be high on the list of prayers of thanksgiving that we offer to Almighty God, as we kneel at the foot of the Manger of Life, where the tiny Prince of Peace—the Prince of Mercy—sleeps between His Holy Mother and the good Saint Joseph, models of the true family life and of true mercy.
+ br. Philip Anderson, abbot
