Doing the Works of Mercy
The spiritual works of mercy
are to admonish the sinner, to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful,
to comfort the sorrowful, to bear wrongs patiently, to forgive all injuries,
and to pray for the living and the dead.
The corporal works of mercy are to feed the hungry, to
give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to ransom the captive, to
harbor the harborless, to visit the sick, and to bury the dead.
When Peter Maurin talked about the necessity of
practicing the works of mercy, he meant all of them. He envisioned houses of
hospitality in poor parishes in every city of the country, where these precepts
of our Lord could be put into effect. He pointed out that we have turned to the
state through home relief, social legislation, and social security, that we no
longer practice personal responsibility, but are repeating the words of the
first murderer, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The works of mercy are a wonderful stimulus to our growth
in faith as well as love. Our faith is taxed to the utmost and so grows through
this strain put upon it. It is pruned again and again, and springs up bearing
much fruit. For anyone starting to live literally the words of the fathers of
the church – “The bread you retain belongs to the hungry, the dress you lock up
is the property of the naked”; “What is superfluous for one’s need is to be
regarded as plunder if one retains it for one’s self” – there is always a trial
ahead. “Our faith, more precious than gold, must be tried as though by fire.”
We must love to the point of
folly, and we are indeed fools, as our Lord himself was who died for such a one
as this.
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