Little Works of Mercy
Beautiful Mercy, a Prologue
In an effort to focus in on moving faith towards action, today’s post begins a 15-week series on the Works of Mercy. Released each Monday, these will be short reflections on each Work and each chapter of Dynamic Catholic’s book Beautiful Mercy. This small anthology was released in 2015 as a companion to Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy, but it remains a focused, actionable manual for how work our faith out in love.
Before reflecting on the introduction to this powerful little book, it may be helpful to quickly review what the Works of Mercy are. Paragraph 2447 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.
The Works of Mercy are specifically enumerated as Corporal Works and Spiritual Works. Most of the Corporal Works of Mercy are the ones expressly shared by our Lord in Matthew 25 (35-36). They are:
The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:
Instruct the ignorant
Counsel the doubtful
Admonish the sinner
Bear wrongs patiently
Forgive offenses willingly
Comfort the afflicted
Pray for the living and the dead
Matthew Kelly kicks off the anthology by detailing some powerful examples of faithful people humbly carrying out the Works in their everyday lives, from a weekly date feeding the homeless to a morning prayer ritual to a family taking in a daughter’s friend who got kicked out of her house. He concludes by reflecting on God’s mercy, and how “in the end, we each must fall at the feet of God and beg for mercy. In the end, it all comes down to mercy. Let us now strive to show others the mercy we hope to achieve.”
The next section of the book draws from Pope Francis’ Misericordiae Vultus, the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015. He reminds us, too, that the first step in spreading mercy towards others is surrendering ourselves to the mercy of God. “He comes to assist us in our weakness. And His help consists in helping us accept His presence and closeness to us. Day after day, touched by his compassion, we also can become compassionate towards others.”
From this beginning of reminding ourselves of God’s mercy towards us, may this series on the Works of Mercy inspire us all to continue to allow Him to work through us in ensuring our faith in Him bears fruit.