Let Us Walk Among Them With Works of Mercy

On this August morning, let us who call ourselves Christian, with a gentle and courteous spirit, "accept all people as a gift of the Lord and an image of Christ." Church, if you are seeking to help the poor, let us individually and as churches begin in our own towns and neighborhoods. The poor - the needy - the suffering are among us and they need us every day. They need for us "to love our neighbor as ourselves." They need for us to walk among them, distributing loaves and fishes.

Let us show charity to our neighbors with corporal works of mercy:

Feed the hungry

Give drink to the thirsty

Clothe the naked

Shelter the homeless

Visit the sick

Visit the imprisoned

Bury the dead

Let us show charity to our neighbors with spiritual works of mercy:

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

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church on works of mercy:

2447 The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God:

"He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none and he who has food must do likewise." [Luke 3:11] "But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you." [Luke 11:41] "If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?" [James 2:15-16]