A brief meditation by Msgr. Paolo Giulietti, Archbishop of Lucca, on the third spiritual work of mercy, to live it concretely in everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe works of the heart\u201d is a booklet written by Msgr. Paolo Giulietti on the occasion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy convoked in 2015, when he was still auxiliary bishop of Perugia and Citt\u00e0 della Pieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ten years have passed, but the reflections of the current Archbishop of Lucca regarding the works of mercy remain as relevant as ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The intention is to reread these short meditations on the fourteen works and make them relevant in daily life: what spazio + spadoni calls the \u201cRe-Evolution of the works of mercy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are we still capable of reprimanding someone? Uncertain about what is right and what is wrong, we struggle to recognize evil and to help those who commit it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The culture of \u201charm reduction\u201d or \u201cwhat harm is there?\u201d has indeed substituted compromise for the demanding pursuit of the good: as if sin were inevitable and one could only limit its conflicts and damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In deference to \u201cpolitical correctness\u201d, moreover, the very names of certain wrong behaviors are adjusted so as to soften the sense of inadequacy and limitation that evil inevitably carries with it: from \u201cwomb for rent\u201d to \u201csurrogate motherhood\u201d; from \u201cabortion\u201d to \u201cvoluntary termination of pregnancy\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, those who err are abandoned to themselves, for the sake of an easy life or out of an indifference fueled by a dramatic ethical uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both the \u201cpaternal\u201d admonition of those with the right and duty to offer it by virtue of a position of responsibility, and the \u201cfraternal\u201d correction of those who can leverage a bond of friendship, are lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no mercy in closing one’s eyes to evil and leaving others in their error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n