Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy

I grew up in the Protestant tradition, but I have a great deal of respect for Catholicism.

In fact, the two largest influences on my thinking, at least so far as the work of loving the poor goes, are Catholics, namely Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. It was in reading Day’s Autobiography The Long Loneliness that I was first introduced to the concept of Works of Mercy.

The Catholic church has two lists of merciful works; Corporal works and Spiritual works, seven of each (I often think that had Moses been Catholic, we would have had seven commandments).

The corporal (or physical) works of mercy are:
* To feed the hungry;
* To give drink to the thirsty;
* To clothe the naked;
* To harbour the harbourless;
* To visit the sick;
* To ransom the captive;
* To bury the dead.

The spiritual works of mercy are:

* To instruct the ignorant;
* To counsel the doubtful;
* To admonish sinners;
* To bear wrongs patiently;
* To forgive offences willingly;
* To comfort the afflicted;
* To pray for the living and the dead.

It is sad, but after 20 years in protestant churches, the only one I was encouraged to do or saw anyone else do regularly was admonishing sinners.

Source: CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy

Before posting a comment, you may want to read the comment policy. The short version is, Be Nice.