The International Forum of Catholic Action invites all CA groups in the world to adopt the apostolic letter “Misericordia et misera”, given by Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy,  “to all those who will read it”.

Starting from the readers, the first commitment is to respond to: the invitation to give and to spread the apostolic letter so that it may reach the largest number of readers.

Like in Rome, we would like to maintain and intensify the atmosphere of the jubilee year mercy in our particular Churches. The Jubilee may be considered as a stage in a process which sees mercy at the centre of the pontifical teachings from John XXIII to Francis who has universalized it: in Rome and in cathedrals, in sanctuaries and in so many other significant places in local realities.

We feel challenged by the Apostolic Letter to grow in the culture of mercy both as individual members and as an association. The IFCA Secretariat invites us to take into consideration 3 aspects which each CA group could undertake to implement in appropriate ways: “The works of mercy are “handcrafted”, in the sense that none of them is alike. Our hands can craft them in a thousand different ways and even though the one God inspires them and they are all fashioned from the same “material”, mercy itself, each one takes on a different form” MM20.

1. A Sunday fully dedicated to the Word of God
Promoting and collaborating with everyone for a Sunday in the Liturgical Year, chosen at parish level,  so that the Word of God may be celebrated, known and more widely diffused, so that through it ,we may be able to appreciate the mystery of love ,which emanates from that source of mercy, better. And the Pope adds: Creative initiatives can help make this an opportunity for the faithful to become living vessels for the transmission of God’s word MM7.

The biblical and liturgical dimension are at the root of CA’s formative proposal and thus we should review and intensify our stuies and our prayers  with the Word of GOD.

2 “Fridays of mercy”
Following the example of Pope Francis, as individuals and as children, young people, adults and family groups we undertake to commit ourselves,  once a month, in a concrete way.
It is the time to unleash the creativity of mercy, to bring about new undertakings, the fruit of grace. The Church today needs to tell of those “many other signs” that Jesus worked, which “are not written” (Jn 20:30), so that they too may be an eloquent expression of the fruitfulness of the love of Christ and of the community that draws its life from him. MM 18

3. World day of the poor
On the XXXIII Sunday of the Ordinary Time, participate and animate the World Day of the Poor at parish and diocesan level:
a Day which helps communities and each of the baptized to reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel and that, as long as Lazarus lies at the door of our homes (cf. Lk 16:19-21), there can be no justice or social peace. This Day will also represent a genuine form of new evangelization (cf. Mt 11:5) which can renew the face of the Church as She perseveres in her perennial activity of pastoral conversion and witness to mercy. MM21

Towards the Congress CA is mission
We are preparing for the II International Congress on CA with the title Catholic Action is mission: with everyone and for everyone. Our objective is that this will in reality be a time when  we can show CA’s daily contribution towards this culture of mercy which means:
setting in motion a real cultural revolution, beginning with simple gestures capable of reaching body and spirit, people’s very lives. This is a commitment that the Christian community should take up, in the knowledge that God’s word constantly calls us to leave behind the temptation to hide behind indifference and individualism in order to lead a comfortable life free of problems. Jesus tells his disciples: “The poor you always have with you” (Jn 12:8). There is no alibi to justify not engaging with the poor when Jesus has identified himself with each of them. MM20

May the CA saints and blessed, witnesses of the Father’s mercy, accompany us  on this right track.