A Word from Your Pastor - January 31

Dear Parishioners:

We now move into a discussion of the Spiritual Works of Mercy

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are acts of compassion by which we help our neighbors with their emotional and spiritual needs.  The first two are:

·       counsel the doubtful

·       instruct the ignorant

Human beings are made up of Body, Mind and Spirit.  When we attend to the needs of the body, our minds and our spirits are also involved.  Similarly, when our attention is focused on our mental and spiritual selves, there is an effect on our bodily selves.  We feel better when our whole person is engaged.  Doubt and ignorance can get in the way of our functioning.  To fulfill the spiritual works of mercy of counseling the doubtful and instructing the ignorant is to offer an opportunity for the Gospel to touch the whole human being.  We make ourselves available to God to be used for the good of others.

            The doubtful are those for whom a stumbling block has been put in the way as they seek to open their hearts to Faith.  To have a doubt is not the same as to have a question.  Questions about Faith are important because they free us to make Faith our own.  Doubts, on the other hand, stand directly in the way of our surrender to Faith.  To offer counsel, advice, a new way of seeing to someone who has doubts is a way of evangelizing.  Listening to what stands in the way for others and being willing to share our own journey of Faith as a way of removing stumbling blocks is truly a spiritual action and a work that allows Mercy to touch those we encounter.

            The ignorant are those who lack the requisite knowledge about the content of Faith and the true meaning of the teachings of the Church.  This lack of knowing may come from never having had the opportunity to learn, from being misinformed about the truth of Faith, or from a willful lack of openness to the Truth.  To instruct someone who does not have a knowledge of the Truth for any of these reasons is a spiritual work because it ministers to the intellect of the person.  It is a work of Mercy because it affords that person with a new opportunity to discover the Truth and to submit freely to an act of Faith.

            St. Timothy Parish and School are engaged in these spiritual works of Mercy all the time.  Attending classes and formational opportunities gives anyone who wishes the tools needed to take these works to their homes and neighborhoods.  Volunteering in our School and PSR programs allows you to perform these works of mercy as you build up the next generations of Faith.  Any good Catholic must continue to grow in knowledge of the Faith and must be willing to assist others in need of counsel and instruction.  Faith was given to be shared, not to be kept for ourselves alone.

Prayer for the Feast of St. Timothy in the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy 2016: 

That St. Timothy Church and School may become a truly welcoming community that draws others into an awareness of God’s great Mercy and helps them to know in practical ways the Love of God poured out in Jesus Christ.