Pope Francis begins new catechesis on works of mercy
(Vatican Radio) After
reflecting on the mystery of God’s mercy, from the actions of the Father in the
Old Testament to those of Jesus, Who in the Gospels demonstrates by His words
and gestures that He is the very incarnation of mercy, the Pope announced in
this Wednesday’s general audience that he will dedicate a new cycle of
catechesis to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
“It is not enough to
experience God’s mercy in our lives”, the Pope observed. “It is necessary for
those who receive it also to be a sign and instrument for others. … It is not a
question of making great efforts or superhuman gestures. The Lord shows us a
far easier path, made up of little gestures but which, in His eyes, have great
value, to the point of saying that it is on these that we will be judged. …
Jesus says that every time we give something to eat to a hungry person and give
something to drink to one who thirsts, we dress the naked and welcome the
stranger, or we visit the sick or imprisoned, we do this also to Him. The
Church calls these gestures ‘corporal works of mercy’, as they assist people in
their material needs”.
However there are also, as
Francis recalled, another seven spiritual works of mercy, that respond to other
equally important needs, “especially nowadays, as they affect the most intimate
aspect of the person and often make them suffer more. We all surely remember
one which has entered into common parlance: to bear patiently those who wrong
us. … It may seem to be of little importance, or indeed make us smile, but
instead it contains a sentiment of profound charity; and it is the same also
for the other six, which are good to remember: to counsel the doubtful, to
instruct the ignorant, to admonish sinners, to console the afflicted, to
forgive offenses, and to pray for the living and the dead”.
“It is better to start with
the simplest ones, that the Lord shows us as the most urgent. In a world that
is unfortunately afflicted by the virus of indifference, works of mercy are the
best antidote. They educate us, indeed, in attention towards the most elementary
needs of ‘the least of our brothers’, in whom Jesus is present. … This enables
us always to be vigilant, avoiding that Christ may pass by us without us
recognising Him. St. Augustine’s phrase returns to mind: ‘I fear Jesus will go
by’, and I will not recognise Him, that the Lord will pass by my side in one of
these little people, in need, and I will not realise that it is Jesus”.
The works of mercy “reawaken
in us the need and the capacity to make faith live and work through charity. I
am convinced that through these simple daily gestures we can effect a true
cultural revolution. … If each one of us, every day, did one of these, this
would be a revolution in the world! But all of us, every one of us. How many
saints are still remembered today not for the great works they performed but
for the love they knew how to transmit! Mother Teresa, for example, recently
canonised: we do not remember her for the many houses that she opened
throughout the world, but because she stooped to all the people she met in the
street to restore their dignity to them. How many abandoned children she held
in her arms; how many dying people she accompanied on the threshold to
eternity, holding their hands!”
“These works of mercy are the
features of the countenance of Jesus Christ, Who cares for the least of His
brothers to bring God’s tenderness and closeness to every one. May the Holy
Spirit help us; may the Holy Spirit kindle in us the desire to live in this
way. Do at least one of them a day, at least! Let us learn again by heart the
corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and ask the Lord to help us to put them
into practice every day and at the moment in which we see Jesus in a person in
need”.
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