Date post: | 19-Jan-2016 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | kelley-lane |
View: | 217 times |
Download: | 0 times |
THE YEAR OF MERCY
“The world needs mercy but does not even
realise it” John Paul 11
We need a church capable of re-discovering the maternal womb of
mercy
Pope Francis
Imagine a world without mercy - a CIA world
Cold
Cruel
Callous
Calculating
Critical
Individualistic
Isolated
Insecure
Intolerant
Indifferent
Angry Apathetic
Anxious
Afraid
Antagonistic Armed
Imagine a world with mercy :
W - welcoming and warm
A - alive, affectionate, accepting
R - restored, renewed, refreshed
M - merciful, magnanimous,
T - tender and trusting
H - healing, hope, happiness
HEAVEN ON
EARTH
“I have asked the church to re-discover the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy ... the concrete signs of mercy as Jesus taught.”
Misericordiae Vultus
What does love look like?
Love has hands to help others
It has eyes to see misery and want
It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others
That’s what love looks like.
St Augustine
The Corporal Works of
Mercy
MERCY
IS
MINISTRY
TO THE
MARGINALISED
• To feed the hungry• To give drink to the thirsty • To clothe the naked• To visit the sick
• To welcome the stranger• To visit the imprisoned • To bury the dead.
This is the way we reach out
to the poor and those in need- particularly material
and physical needs.
The disadvantaged and disabled
The homeless and those written off
Those who don’t fit in and the lonely
The strangers and the migrants
The forgotten and the neglected
Those in real need and the feckless
FEED THE HUNGRY
• Support food banks and drop-in centres • Support Cafod - against hunger • Avoid wasting food
What can we
do?
GIVE DRINK TO THE THIRSTY
• support Cafod’s campaign for wells• look at different kinds of thirst – for friendship, company, information: what can we do?• help people to ‘belong’ and meet their needs
Woman died of thirst in hospital
Have I ever known real thirst?
SHELTER THE HOMELESS AND WELCOME THE STRANGER
• Is there a drop-in shelter near you?
• Migrants and asylum seekers?
• Housing for low-income people
• How can we change attitudes of suspicion?
How can we help?
VISIT THE IMPRISONED
• Prison visiting?
• support for prisoners’ families
• other forms of imprisonment – housebound, chronic illness etc
Who are the imprisoned?
CLOTHE THE NAKED • Go through your drawers and wardrobes and see what you can do without - donate to charities • Knit blankets, shawls, balaclavas for seamen
• Support the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society
What can I do without?
VISIT THE SICK
• Spend quality time with those who are sick or housebound
• Send a card or an e-mail to someone who is sick;
• Accompany a friend to a medical appointment
Have I got time to visit someone?
BURY THE DEAD
• Participate in a bereavement ministry;
• Send sympathy cards to families of those who have died.
• Make sure mourners are supported at funerals
• A card to remind them of the service
Can I pray for the dead and their families?
At the end, we will be judged on how well we have fulfilled the works of mercy.
Christ’s words in Matt 25:
“Come you whom my Father has blessed; take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you ......
For I was hungry...thirsty..a stranger...naked ....sick....in prison.
WHEN LORD?
As long as you did it to the least of my brethren you did it to me
Lord, help me to be more like your Son; help me to see others as he did; when they are hungry, may I feed them;When thirsty, give them a drink; When I see the poor, give them hospitality and help to clothe them.Give me the courage to come to the aid of those imprisoned in mind or body;And Lord, give me the compassion to bury the dead and to console the afflicted.Help me Lord, to be your Son to others.