Multi-faith Festival of Lights celebrates richness of God’s mercy

The Mercy Center for Spiritual Life will hold its 14th annual Festival of Lights: A Jubilee of Mercy at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2 in Ochre Court. This multi-faith, multicultural gathering will celebrate the richness of God’s mercy and our determination to bring the light of mercy to the world.

The evening will include the lighting of the Hindu Diwali Diyas, the Jewish Menorah, the Christian Advent Wreath and the Muslim Fanoos. Sacred music and movement artists Christopher and Katherine Carbone will lead a participatory dance for mercy, and students from the Extensions Dance Company II will also perform.

In response to Pope Francis’ declaration of a Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Festival of Lights will be a time for members of the Salve Regina community to come together to pray, to sing, to reflect and to express in dance a desire for an outpouring of Mercy in our world.

The Festival of Lights anticipates the official beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy on Dec. 8, when the University community will gather at the gates of Ochre Court to celebrate our opening of the Jubilee with the theme “Mercy Empowers.”

“A celebration of mercy at an institution founded by the Sisters of Mercy is appropriate and exciting,” said Anna Mae Mayer, director of the Mercy Center for Spiritual Life. “The next year will be a wonderful opportunity for all of us to re-examine the gift of mercy in our lives and how we are able to make mercy manifest in whatever we do and in wherever we go.”