LESSONS from Our Lord for the World Afterword
AFTERWORD to I am your Jesus of Mercy, Volume V. By the late Fr. Frederick M. Jelly, O.P., Professor of Theology, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, MD.
As a Dominican priest and theologian, I have found the thirty messages of Jesus in this volume to be a source of special inspiration. Our motto as the Order of Preachers in the Church (O.P.) has been “contemplare, et aliis tradere contemplata”, which may be rendered into the vernacular “to contemplate, and to hand on to others the fruits of our contemplation.” Throughout the lessons of this volume, Gianna Talone-Sullivan has shared with us the fruits of her own contemplative prayer as she reports the teachings of Jesus calling us to a deeper mystical union with the Father through Him, which is the necessary spiritual experience for all apostolic activity.
Although such titles as “contemplative apostle” and “apostolic contemplative” are not used in these lessons of “Jesus of Mercy,” nevertheless they are very apt to summarize their constant refrain. The infused virtue of love permeates every message in this volume, the love of God and of neighbor that embraces both the prayers of the contemplative and the actions of the apostle called to be disciples of Christ. Christ himself unites in his own divine personality the eternal contemplative love of the Father in the Holy Spirit with the mission of redeeming us through the deeds and sufferings of his real human nature. Mary, the first and foremost of his disciples in the Church, united the love of the contemplative at the Annunciation with the active lover of the apostle at the Visitation in sharing with others (especially John the Baptizer in Elizabeth’s womb) the sanctifying presence of the Word made flesh in her own womb made fruitful by the Holy Spirit.
We are all called by our baptismal vows “to live the Word” as is so often said in those lessons of the merciful Jesus. Each in his/her own way, whether lay person, religious, or priest, is given the special graces to help make the redeeming love of the Word made flesh present in our world today. May our meditating on these lessons inspire us to do so with greater wisdom and love.
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