Q&A 61
Q. Given my background that will take some time to digest...
A. Not to worry. That's very normal... Perhaps one good habit in such situations is to crosscheck with those who came before us in the Faith. The Church has that oneness or unity of faith not just horizontally in terms of geography, but also vertically in terms of time. Study what the earliest Christians like Iraneus, Cyprian, and so on who lived in the 2nd and 3rd centuries used to believe or how they used to worship. They are always a good reference point.
Q. Interesting... Can we now return to the 5 things Pope Francis is pushing for in this Year of Mercy?
A. Certainly!
Q. There was Confession, the works of mercy, preachers of mercy, conversion of gang members and relations with Jews and Muslims. So let's tackle the works of mercy next.
A. Ok. There are two groups of these: the corporal works of mercy (or those that attend to the material needs of others) and the spiritual works of mercy (that attend precisely to the spiritual needs of others).
The corporal works are listed by our Lord mainly in that passage of Matthew 25:31-46: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to welcome the stranger (or sheltering the homeless), to clothe the naked, to visit the sick and the imprisoned. Tradition adds one more found variously in Scripture such as in the book of Tobit: to bury the dead.
The spiritual works of mercy are also seven but are not found in a neat list in Scripture: to counsel the doubtful, to instruct the ignorant, to admonish sinners, to forgive offences, to bear wrongs patiently and to pray for the living and the dead.
Pope Francis is asking us to rediscover and practice as many of these as our circumstances allow in this Holy Year. And as always, let us begin right where we are. As one priest was preaching, "A mother or father has no need to leave the house to practice the corporal works of mercy. With their children, they feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc."
20thDecember 2015