A Word from Your Pastor - January 10

Dear Parishioners:

As we enter into 2016, I want to concentrate on the theme of Mercy through comments on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.  Each week, I will highlight one or two of these works with concrete suggestions as to how they apply to our life together at St. Timothy Church.

The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy are actions we can perform that extend God’s compassion and mercy to those in need.

The Corporal Works of Mercy are kind acts by which we help our neighbors with their material and physical needs.  This week, we will look at two more:

·       clothe the naked

·       shelter the homeless

A number of organizations in our Diocese and Parish collaborate among themselves and with other people of good will to attend to the works of clothing the naked and supplying shelter to the homeless.  Our monthly St. Vincent DePaul collection goes a long way to help many, as does their annual campaign Christmas for Christmas.  Ash Wednesday, we join other parishes who take up a special collection for J.O.I.N. the Joint Organization for Inner-City Needs.  A number of our parishioners work with this organization.  A few years ago, our Women’s Club sponsored a campaign to gather dresses so girls who could not afford them could attend their high school proms in style.  That was a real joy for all involved.

The broader aspects of these works of Mercy include a responsible lifestyle ourselves, being generous with our own material benefits.  Welcome is an attitude as well as a concrete practice.  We give a home to those who experience rejection due to their appearance and on account of broken family ties.  When elders “adopt” or are themselves “adopted” into families as surrogate grandparents, this is a way of giving a sense of home and their generosity of offering wisdom as well as material gifts covers over the lack due to distance from immediate family.

We can be creative about these works of Mercy and bring our children into a greater awareness of our responsibility for others.  Clothing and Homes help to ensure that members of society have a place and can participate in all efforts to promote the common good.  It is important to realize that whatever we do for the least, we do for Jesus, and in the end, we will be judged on the basis of how we cared for Jesus in His hidden disguise.