Mother of Mercy, Our Lady of Ransom: a word from Fr. Miguel
Fr. Miguel reflects on Bishop Hying’s letter and on what our new parish’s name asks of us.
Dear friends in Christ, since Saturday, October 24, we are one parish: Mary, Mother of Mercy. In his letter to us, Bishop Hying did more than announce a decree. He reminded us what our new name means, and I would like to share a few thoughts about it.
For centuries the Church has called Mary the Mother of Mercy; we greet her that way every time we pray the Salve Regina. The Bishop points us to another form of the same title: Our Lady of Mercy, also called Our Lady of Ransom, patroness of the Mercedarians. St. Peter Nolasco founded that order in Barcelona in 1218 to free Christians held captive, and its members even promised to take a captive’s place if there was no other way to set him free.
Few of us are held in chains today. But the Bishop is right that a deeper captivity remains: sin, fear, discouragement, the habits we cannot break on our own. Christ came to set us free, and Mary, who stood at the foot of the Cross, always leads us to the freedom of his mercy. Every confession heard in our four churches is the Lord setting a captive free.
Mercy received becomes mercy shared. That is the mission the Bishop sets before us: that our parish be, in his words, “a center of holiness and missionary zeal.” Being one parish is not an end in itself. It gives us one family of four churches, one team of priests, and more hands to bring Christ to Sauk City, Roxbury, Mazomanie, and Merrimac, in English and in Spanish.
I am grateful to all of you: to the families who have kept these churches alive for generations, to the trustees and council members of Divine Mercy, St. Norbert, and Holy Cross, and to everyone who has prayed for this step. Together with Fr. James, Fr. Pedro, Fr. Cristian, and Deacon Michael, I look forward to serving you.
Please join us on Sunday, December 20, at 10:30 AM at St. Aloysius, when Bishop Hying celebrates the Installation Mass. And mark September 24, the feast of Our Lady of Mercy, which from now on is our parish feast every year. May she keep us all under her mantle.
In Christ,
Fr. Miguel Galvez, SJS, Pastor