Although the celebration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, proclaimed by Pope Francis, for the universal Church, has come to an end, each day is a good time to reflect on what is Mercy.

There’s “Good News” in Africa, in the small nation of Swaziland – and you can be part of it at Christmas and into the New Year! Religious Sisters at St. Phillip’s Home in Manzini are making a difference for the increasing number of children who are orphans

Napo, a Seminarian at St. John Vianney in Pretoria, South Africa understands God’s point . . . during breaks from his studies, he returns to his rural village, visiting the sick and elderly at local hospitals and hospices, helping terminally ill patients find peace in their final days.

In Thies, Senegal $40 helps Sister Rosalind. Sister works in a small village there – a place she describes as “in the middle of nowhere – with no roads but many paths.” That’s only a $1 a day for 40 days . . . about the cost of a cup of coffee . . .

Missionaries serving in Lebanon understand the words that Pope Francis spoke about Christian love. Desperate for help, peoples are fleeing in great numbers to Lebanon. They are being met by Missionaries like Sister Antoinette Assaf, who Sisters help run an Outreach Center and Medical clinic in Beirut.

No Room at the Inn, but a Home with the Sisters. In Egypt, the Lord’s love is born in the hearts of homeless men and women as they are welcomed to a home run by the Missionaries of Charity – Blessed Mother Teresa’s Sisters. Here 11 Sisters care for 65 men and women and also provide food and other aid to the poor families in the surrounding neighborhood.

How many times have you had a drink of water today? Washed your hands? Or taken a shower in a week? Many of us do not think of water as being an indulgence. It’s always there. So, for many, it’s hard to believe that over 800 million people around the world do not have clean water to drink.

Sister Ingrid Oletti keeps going. Day after day, she makes the rounds in Katatura — a city in Namibia whose name means “the place where nobody wants to go.”