Image: Unsplash/Mayur Gala
There are three traditional Lenten mainstays: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Almsgiving, one of the three, usually translates into extending charity, or showing God’s kindness and compassion to our neighbour. It is often but not necessarily giving in the form of financial aid or material goods.
I awoke one morning thinking of the two words: almsgiving and compassion. My early morning thought sparked this blog.
One of the ways we might focus on almsgiving during the Lenten season is by reflecting more intently on the guidelines for living Gospel compassionate action. The Corporal Works or Acts of Mercy provide an excellent roadmap for displaying God’s kindness and mercy in the actions of our daily lives.
Matthew 25: 35-40 provides us with the pattern for Christian living given by Jesus:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless, and you gave me a room,
I was shivering, and you gave me clothes,
I was sick, and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison, and you came to me.
I read in a church bulletin a revised wording of the Corporal Acts of Mercy composed by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS. which turn words into action:
Share what you have with those who need it, down the street or around the world.
Share your joy and hope with those whose lives are dry and lonely, and those who are literally without water.
Stand up for those who are weak and vulnerable.
Advocate for those whose voices are not heard.
Help prisoners and those who are confined due to fear, illness, or sadness.
Make everyone welcome in your heart. Give people simple, decent places to lay their heads.
Be with people who need you.
Love and respect the person who has died.
This Lent, why not extend the scope of almsgiving to incorporate the Works of Mercy? John’s words point the way, “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.“ 1 John 3:18
-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ
The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy | Artist Studio of David Teniers the younger | c.1642-3
This painting seemingly depicts a crowded genre scene in a Dutch village, but there is more to it than meets the eye. The various groups of figures composing the scene symbolically illustrate the seven corporal acts of mercy: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to give shelter to travellers, to visit the sick, to visit the imprisoned, and to bury the dead. This composition is known in several versions.