Two Works of Mercy for Any Time, Any Place

-
The Year of Mercy has been going on for a month now.  In that short amount of time, I have found that I need frequent reminders about the "nitty gritty" of this Jubilee Year.  More than a couple of times, I have forgotten that the Holy Father did not initiate this special year so that I could discuss mercy on a theoretical level (even though these blog posts will be scintillating).  No, he didn't even inaugurate the year so that people could walk through special doors and receive indulgences, as wonderful as those things are.  I suspect, instead, that Pope Francis called for a Year of Mercy so that the faithful would go out to the highways and byways of life and extend mercy to their fellow humans.  This year is for us to BE merciful, to ACT mercifully.

Pompeo Batoni, The Return of the Prodigal Son (1773)
If we are to develop this habit of merciful action, we need a regimen.  As always, we need not look very far because the rich tradition of the Catholic Church provides fourteen individual actions for us to habituate.  These are the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  Without a doubt, a person could spend a whole year, indeed many years, cultivating just one of these works.  Working to extend mercy as Christ did is a life-long effort.  Thankfully, the Year of Mercy is a great time to begin if we haven't done very well to this point, or to begin anew if we recently have been slacking.

I am sure that I fall into the former category.  (See my previous post about why I need a Year of Mercy.)  I simply have not habituated many of the fourteen works of mercy.  Telling people that they are ignorant is not the same thing as instructing the ignorant; and pointing out people's flaws is not the same as admonishing the sinner.  It has only been in recent years that I have learned how to go about doing a small few of these works in a way that builds up others.  Other works of mercy are still almost completely absent from my regular, habitual repertoire.

Because I sense a need to grow in mercy during this Year of Mercy, I thought it would be appropriate to examine the list and ask God which works He wants me to repeat throughout this year.  Some of these works seem really impractical at my stage in life.  The closest I get to visiting the imprisoned is sitting near one of the children while she is in time-out.  I suppose I "visit the sick" when I provide cough medicine in the middle of the night.  How can I learn to be merciful anywhere except in my home?  Granted: learning to be merciful in my own family will be a pretty amazing feat this year, if it happens.

Photo Credit: Bearing Wrongs Patiently (2014)
There are, however, two spiritual works of mercy that leap off of the proverbial page and shout, "Derek, you can practice these in your life.  Today.  No matter where you are or what situation you're in."  Those two are "to bear wrongs patiently" and "to forgive offenses willingly."  Yes, there are plenty of opportunities for me to be patient when I normally would be impatient, and there are plently of people whom I can forgive for various offenses.  I'll leave to your imagination the opportunities that I have for either of those.  More importantly, instead of telling you about my opportunities, I'll encourage you to think about the opportunities that are in your life.  Slander? Physical abuse?  Fraud?  Children?  Parents?  Siblings?

AP Photo (1981)
So, I have identified what seem to be the most pivotal and poignant habits for me to cultivate during this year: patience and forgiveness.  To accomplish this tall task, or even to make just a little progress, I will need to commit to daily prayer, for myself and the recipients.  I pray that God will grant the grace of transformation to me, and I pray that God will bless those who are most in need of His mercy.  Will you join me in this prayer and this effort?

Popular posts from this blog

Learning Virtue from St. Martin de Porres

-
Image
[This post appeared originally on my full site, which is now no longer in operation, in November 2012.] It seems that more should be written about a saint from whom we can learn so many lessons in virtue.  Yet that is not the case with St. Martin de Porres, from whom we have much to learn about humility, detachment, fasting, justice, and charity.  The website of the St. Martin de Porres Shrine and Institute (located in my own diocese; a wonderful initiative with a beautiful chapel) offers a mere four paragraphs of biographical information, while other sites ( here , here , and here ) devote no more than 10 sentences to this exemplar of heroic virtue.  Surely, Brother Martin, who was so humble in this life, finds that to be a fitting scenario even after his death. From the very earliest days of his life, he embraced his lowly situation.  He desired to do nothing more than glorify the Creator by serving creatures.  He reached out to slaves, orphan...
Read more

St. Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist

-
Image
Although the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was not the first thing that convinced me I needed to become Catholic, it was of prime importance in my journey home. Now that I am home, the Eucharist is what sustains and strengthens me on my perpetual search for holiness. Indeed, it is the "source and summit" of my Christian life. Thus, I always enjoy taking time to read what Christians in the first centuries had to say about "the breaking of the bread." My findings are such: there is clear evidence that, from the time Christ instituted the Eucharistic meal on Holy Thursday, Christians believed Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity to be TRULY present. They never considered that it might be "just a symbol." Only within the last five centuries has the "just a symbol" argument taken form, no doubt to the detriment of the true Faith and otherwise faithful Christians. To prove my argument, I have provided two quotes from St. Cyril of Jer...
Read more

Gratitude: Foundation of Our Spiritual Growth

-
Image
Gratitude is not simply a quaint idea to which we should tip our caps during a few short weeks in November each fall.  It is important that we move beyond a trite understanding and application, and come to understand the real place of gratitude in the spiritual life.  It is nothing less than a virtue and disposition that is at the foundation of our potential spiritual growth.  (In a corresponding way, its absence is at the “foundation” of spiritual stagnation.) Before we ever begin to speak of spiritual realities, gratitude simply helps us to get by more efficiently, effectively, and happily than the opposite alternative.  Grateful people grow and flourish, even in the midst of difficult circumstances, in ways that ungrateful people do not.  Still, we must resist the temptation to deal with gratitude simply on the natural level.  We must bring these principles to the supernatural level and grasp them there. We must come to understand that gratitude...
Read more