Acts of Mercy

We are looking for one person from each parish to pray 5 decades of the Holy Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet with us daily. Please pray that these people join us in spreading Divine Mercy. If you feel lead and are blessed by this Apostolate and are in North America or Europe please consider giving a $1 a month to help do these works of mercy. Individually we are limited together we are unlimited in our potential. God bless, Todd

 

The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy..

The Works of Mercy or Acts of Mercy are actions and practices which Christianity in general and the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church in particular consider expectations to be fulfilled by believers, and which are also recognized as spiritual aids. These works, it is believed, express mercy, and are thus expected to be performed by believers insofar as they are able, in accordance with the Beatitude, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). These acts are to keep the two greatest commandments: New King James Version Matthew 22:35-40 "Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?' Jesus said to him,'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'"

The church organizes the Works of Mercy into two categories. These are the Corporal Works (or Acts) of Mercy, which concern the material needs of others, and the Spiritual Works (or Acts) of Mercy.

Corporal works of mercy

Corporal Works of Mercy are those that tend to bodily needs. The Judgment of Nations (Matthew 25:31-46) enumerates such acts—though not this precise list—as the reason for the salvation of the saved, and the omission of them as the reason for damnation. The last work of mercy, burying the dead, comes from the Book of Tobit.

1. To feed the hungry
2. To give drink to the thirsty.
3. To clothe the naked.
4. To visit and ransom the captive, (prisoners).
5. To shelter the homeless.
6. To visit the sick.
7. To bury the dead.

Spiritual works of mercy

Not everyone is considered capable or obligated to perform the first three spiritual works of mercy if they do not have proper tact, knowledge or training to do so. The last four are considered to be the obligation of all people without condition.^[1]

1. Instruct the ignorant;
2. Counsel the doubtful;
3. Admonish sinners;
4. Bear wrongs patiently;
5. Forgive offenses willingly;
6. Comfort the afflicted;
7. Pray for the living and the dead.

http://www.enotes.com/topic/Works_of_Mercy