The Works of Mercy

In Scripture there are many examples of doubt that are presented to us. Let us recall, for example, the doubt of Zacharias in the face of the angel's announcement in the temple: "How can I know this? I am old and my wife is advanced in years" (Lk 1,18:XNUMX).

This doubt is contrasted by the "good" doubt of Maria...

The works of mercy?! I believe that if we were to conduct an interview in front of the doors of many churches after Sunday Mass, asking what they are, we would not have a high percentage of correct answers, because I am of the opinion that even though we practice them, at least some of them, we do not recognize them as such and their names are lost in the memory of an ancient catechism. Unless a Pope comes along who calls…

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these what's this ai great e ai wise men e le hai done know ai little ones.

Yes, Father, so you have wanted. And he said again: The Father has put everything in my hands. hands. No one knows the Son except the Father. No one knows the Father…

If we reversed the terms of the sentence we would read: “ignore the teachers” and we would capture a good part of the contemporary attitude towards transmissionand knowledge. Paul VI had already understood the difficulty of listening to the masters, stating positively:

«Contemporary man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers"...

Admonishing sinners is a very delicate action that requires much humility and much love so as not to turn into an unacceptable act of interference in the lives of others.

Admonishing sinners should be done as when we clothe a poor person because…

Io I will pray il Father ed egli vi will give un Other Comforter, lo Spirit di verity, and il Father will send since my name, egli will teach you each thing e vi will remember everything I told you" (Jn 14, 25-26).

A mysterious and profound evangelical icon of the consolation of the afflicted is the one concerning Jesus…

In the Sermon on the Mount reported by the evangelist Matthew we can identify the beatitude through which to reread the consolation of the afflicted as a work of spiritual mercy: «blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted» (Mt 5,4). But who are the afflicted? And what is consolation? And why is it a blessedness to be afflicted? And again: because consoling the afflicted is a work of mercy…

It is the only Work of Mercy that doesn't focus on individuals. Instead, it focuses on one thing: the offense. It is broader. It has no boundaries. It isn't limited to one category, because it encompasses and touches the hearts of all of us. Day after day. Because forgiveness is, in fact, decisive and discriminating in the construction of society and the family. Because...

The fifth spiritual work of mercy invites us to forgive offenses received and, by particularly challenging pride, is the most difficult of all, seemingly impossible in our society where humility, fundamental to the capacity for forgiveness, is a sign of weakness.

Human fragility makes us feel the effort of forgiveness, but the Christian has one certainty: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me"...

A famous text from the Christian tradition, especially the Franciscan one, allows us to introduce this work of mercy in a critical and problematic way.

In The Little Flowers, Francis He explains to Brother Leo what perfect joy consists of and tells him…

The sixth spiritual work of mercy pushes us to pay attention to the quality of relationships (Scaraffia, 2014) that we establish with the people around us, with the sick, with colleagues, or even with those we meet by chance. It is built on contrast between the meaning of mercy and harassment: the first is "Feeling of compassion for the unhappiness of others, which leads one to act to alleviate it…

Pray to God. Pope Francis' message for the celebration of the 2016 World Day of Peace opens with three very significant statements: “God is not indifferent! God cares about humanity, God does not abandon it!”

God is the wise architect of my life. I can't make my own plans...

Prayer is the outpouring of our heart into the heart of God. It is blessing, adoration, praise, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession, but above all, it is communion with God. Indeed, whatever the nature of prayer, its object, and its eventual answer, the first effect it achieves is union with God: the believer places himself before Him in a filial relationship and invokes Him as Father (cf. the Lord's Prayer); in a…

Every year, nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday; malnutrition is a contributing factor in 5 percent of these deaths. In Europe, 53 million people still live below the poverty line. Every year in Italy, an average of 79 billion euros is wasted due to food waste. Nowadays…

Then a great crowd came to him, including the lame, the maimed, the mute, and many others who were sick. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them… Jesus called his disciples and said to them, “I have compassion on these people, because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” His disciples said to him, “Where can we get food in the desert…

Eight hundred million people don't have a tap in their homes, and according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 200 million children die each year as a result of unsafe water consumption and the resulting poor sanitation. Overall, it's estimated…

A familiar expression, capable of expressing a concrete invitation to show solidarity with those experiencing this need. We hear reference to the theme of water as it is described in the Gospels. Some passages are probably familiar: Jesus' encounter at the well with the Samaritan woman, when, tired from the journey, he sits by the well (Jn 4,6:19,28); Jesus hanging on the cross says, "I thirst" (Jn XNUMX:XNUMX); to Jesus hanging on the…

Now, it is obvious, we only think about how to dress. And if we do not have that pair of Nike or Adidas shoes, we sulk. Buy and buy clothes that after a couple of months have become out of fashion! While there are people who, in their need, if they have a pair of rags to wear have a complete wardrobe!

“If someone strips who he is…

The human act of clothing the naked is based, according to the Bible, on the original gesture of God himself who covered human nakedness, preparing the clothes and then dressing Adam and Eve, after their transgression: "The Lord God made man and woman garments of skins, and clothed them" (Gen 3:21).

This act of mercy towards the two first parents highlights God's concern for us because he knows…

The phenomenon we are witnessing is like a tidal wave, uncontrollable, starting from the southern and eastern Mediterranean and crashing onto the European coasts. Some advocate building walls and barbed wire, hiding behind economic alarmism and unfounded fears. Others, however, are working to welcome others...

[…] Pope Francis invites us to reflect and rediscover the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

It is a way to awaken our consciousness. The works of mercy are concrete actions in response to concrete needs, they are gestures of love and kindness that make the life of those who suffer different, redeeming them from the evil of indifference....

Among the seven corporal works of mercy, “visiting the sick” takes on a very special significance, since drawing close to those who suffer represents a profound and emblematic way of drawing closer – to use the expression of Pope Francis – to the living and suffering flesh of Christ Jesus.

Servant of the suffering…

In the Gospel account of the Last Judgment (see Matthew 25,31:46-25,36), we read Jesus' warning, "I was sick and you visited me" (Matthew 5,6:XNUMX). It is a warning because in the evening of our lives, we will be judged on love and not on the good intentions we have had. And not even our act of faith is sufficient to be recognized as blessed by the Father of Jesus Christ, because "faith works through love" (Gal XNUMX:XNUMX), the apostle Paul reminds us...

If the history of human violence, an evil so profound, so real, begins with Cain and ends on the Cross, there is nothing else to triumph but the death of God. And if Jesus dies, he chooses to do so between two criminals. One emerges divinely, goes from defeat to absolute victory, the first saved by Christ's death. The other will persist in...

A door closed behind you. This is the image that, more than any other, allows you to understand the reality of prison. Prison is a closed door that limits freedomPrison sentences, despite their harshness, are one of the hallmarks of civilization: no longer the law of retaliation, no longer the death penalty, but rather, and remain, a denial of freedom.

Not even this last corporal work of mercy is as simple and obvious as one might be tempted to think. Victims of hatred and war, countless human beings remain corpses on earth. Perhaps we aren't even moved. These interventions respond more to hygienic or medical concerns than to genuine...

Moving away from the meaning of mummification, embalming or cremation, which sometimes conceal the idea that death marks the total destruction of man, Christian piety has adopted inhumation as a model of burial for the faithful.

On the one hand, it recalls the earth from which he was taken (cf. Gen 2,6:XNUMX) and to which he returns…