Invite The Light

Corbin Gardner '13 (right) speaking with
a guest after our Commissioning Mass

              How will I ‘allow the light’ this year?  Such is a worthy question no matter who you are, but especially so for the 35 Mercy Volunteers preparing for an upcoming year of service in the name of love and mercy.  I consider myself lucky to be among these 35 and yet genuinely challenged by the theme of this week’s orientation—‘Allow the Light’.

               Fortunately, we have been given some excellent food for thought on how, exactly, we might allow the light that is mercy to penetrate and permeate our lives and service.  Speaker Tony Medwid, director of the Bethesda Project of Philadelphia, put it to us like this: light can only get in through cracks.  What are my cracks?  As much as I would like to believe that my strengths will carry me through this year, I am beginning to think that it might be my weaknesses, vulnerabilities, or the cracks in my armor that will actually serve as the vehicles that transport me toward my intended destination.  Do I truly believe that entering into my weaknesses could enlighten my life? Is vulnerability the path to deep joy?

            “Allow the light, in order that you might become the light”; such was the challenge Sister Megan Brown, RSM posed to us.  Although such words can be cryptic, confusing, and cliché,  (here I sympathize with Happy Gilmore and Danny from Caddyshack—“be the ball”) I know there is some wisdom in them.  How do I ‘become the light’?  Perhaps a hint lurks in the name of our organization—mercy.  Mercy, like compassion, can only be expressed to another person after we enter into his or her life in all of its messiness.  In order to do so, it may require that I admit that, beyond a few cracks, my life is downright messy.  If I have the courage to confess that my life is messy, that it is in fact riddled with cracks, then perhaps the illusions of my person that I have attempted to piece together can give way to a drowning light, a light that gives life and hope to others of all backgrounds and a light which invites persons to consider the goodness of its source.  Thus, I make the words of our theme my prayer as we begin our year of serving those who are poor and marginalized. I invite the light.

Corbin Gardner - Witness to Innocence - Philadelphia, PA

Ignited and Fueled



Kelly Mihalik '13

I can vividly remember taking the last box from my car and carrying it into my dorm room at Saint Xavier University. As I looked around my room, I saw a space full of hope and opportunities for the next four years. Nerves and excitement flowed through my veins as I began to meet my fellow dorm and classmates that I would grow and learn with while pursuing my nursing degree. I never expected what would follow in those next four years.  

These same feelings have resurfaced as I prepared for my year of service with the Mercy Volunteer Corps. I am about to embark on a foreign adventure; one full of service, spirituality, community, and simple living. I'll be fully immersed with the Navajo culture while volunteering as a Registered Nurse. Not only will I be experiencing a new community, but a new culture on the reservation. Needless to say the anxious feelings accumulated as I thought about the differences I would encounter. But then I realized there is beauty and lessons in differences between cultures, and the nerves began to fall and the excitement grew.  

Orientation this past week has ignited and fueled the light in my heart for service, justice, and mercy. Being surrounded with fellow young adults who share a fellow passion has only exponentially increased my anticipation in embarking on this spiritual journey. Though I am still anxious, my eagerness and hopes for the next year have stifled those feelings. I am hoping to grow in my spiritual life by experiencing various forms of prayer by learning and living with the community in Arizona. But my biggest hope is to be changed and touched by the lives of those I am serving with on the reservation. 

Kelly Mihalik - St Michaels Association for Special Education - St. Michaels, AZ