<\/div>\n
Last week, after having dinner with two priests at a local restaurant, I suggested we walk around Daffin Park in Savannah before going our separate ways. \u00a0The mild temperature and gentle breeze made selling the walk very easy. \u00a0Middle school students played football, joggers ran past us in both directions, and many lay on the grass enjoying the perfect fall day.<\/p>\n
After going around the park once, we cut through a neighborhood on the way back to our cars. \u00a0The road was desolate and night was beginning to fall. \u00a0Suddenly we heard the voice of an older woman cry out, \u201cplease, gentlemen, could you help me?\u201d \u00a0Though the park had been buzzing with activity, this road had no pedestrians, it was quiet, and not so well kept. \u00a0The houses off the road were old, and each had a typical southern front porch where folks drink a beer and smoke a cigarette on evenings such as these.<\/p>\n
I turned towards the voice and saw an anxious African American woman. \u00a0As she approached us I glanced behind her and saw an elderly woman sitting on the top step of the short stairway that led up to the porch of the green house. \u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t get my ninety-four year old mother in the house!\u201d \u00a0She further explained that her mother had just been released from the hospital and ran into trouble when she got out of her wheelchair to go up the wooden steps. <\/p>\n
The three of us quickly considered ways to help these two women. \u00a0The elderly woman sitting on the ground could hardly speak and she seemed to be in great pain. \u00a0We managed to get her on her feet, down the steps and onto her wheelchair. \u00a0Once in the chair, we carried the chair up the steps to the porch.<\/p>\n
As we said goodbye, the now relieved daughter did not have enough words to express her gratitude. \u00a0One of the priests said, \u201cwhat you don\u2019t know ma\u2019am, is that all three of us are Catholic priests.\u201d \u00a0The woman was filled with even more gratitude. \u00a0She asked us where we worked as priests and asked for prayers, especially for her ailing mother.<\/p>\n
Earlier that day, a group of priests were discussing ways to commemorate the upcoming Year of Mercy which Pope Francis has called starting December 8th of this year. \u00a0In my encounter with these two women I found a personal answer \u2013 to show mercy in concrete ways to concrete individuals. \u00a0To allow myself to be inconvenienced for the sake of the other. \u00a0 To express a glimmer of God\u2019s unfathomable love and mercy to others, especially those who do not have the ability or desire to express it back to me. \u00a0To be merciful is to live the proverbial Golden Rule \u2013 to treat others as you would like to be treated.<\/p>\n
Saint Thomas Aquinas defined mercy as \u201cthe compassion in our hearts for another person\u2019s misery, a compassion which drives us to do what we can to help him or her.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a world that praises efficiency and timeliness, stopping \u00a0to help a needy woman is inconvenient. \u00a0The world prefers to ignore the need or blame someone else for being irresponsible, yet Jesus calls us to be merciful. \u00a0Expressions of mercy not only help their recipients, but enlarge the hearts of those who show mercy.<\/p>\n
So if you are looking for ways to live out the Year of Mercy, consider the time-tested traditional Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. \u00a0We do not have to go very far to find concrete ways to enter fully into the year of mercy.<\/p>\n
The Corporal Works of Mercy<\/b>
Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Clothe the naked
Shelter the homeless
Visit the sick
Visit the imprisoned
Bury the dead<\/p>\n
The Spiritual Works of Mercy<\/b>
Admonish the sinner
Instruct the ignorant
Counsel the doubtful
Comfort the sorrowful
Bear wrongs patiently
Forgive all injuries
Pray for the living and the dead<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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