Works of Mercy When This Jubilee Year Has Ended

The month of October is a liturgically heavy month, with several feast days celebrated in grand style. Furthermore, it is the month where Catholics around the world honored Mary as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, and recalled her powerful intercession for Christianity during the Battle of Lepanto.

In November, we will find the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy ending. This past year, we have seen a strong push by the Pope and Catholic Church officials to emphasize the messages found in the Divine Mercy messages of Jesus to St. Faustina Kowalska - messages that bring God’s love and His infinite, inexhaustible mercy toward the central focus of our lives.

The Church has been reminding its listeners this past year that God is love, and His mercy is inexhaustible, as well as unfathomable.

God loves us! God is love!

We have frequently heard how there is no possible way our hearts and minds can comprehend the extent of God’s mercy, even though we catch glimpses of it throughout our lifetime.

Yet, when those doors close in mid-November, we must strive to remember that it does not mean that God’s love and mercy close with those doors!

Instead, it is the time where we should begin to really put our faith into action. Look at this past year as being a year to study about God’s mercy - to read what authors have written, to internalize the messages, and to practice extending mercy toward ourselves and toward others.

Our faith is not one in which we are called to simply show up to church on Sunday, check the box of completion at the end of Mass, and then move on for the rest of the week. Instead, our faith calls us to live and breathe the lessons we are taught during Mass. We are encouraged to take the Good News, the Joy of the Gospels, and Jesus Christ out to those we meet during the course of our week.

As a Catholic, we rely not only on faith, but also works of faith. James 2:17 reminds us, “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (NABRE, usccb.org). This is where the examples of the Corporal Works of Mercy (feed the Hungry; clothe the naked; give drink to the thirsty; shelter the homeless; visit the sick; visit the imprisoned; bury the dead), and the examples of the Spiritual Works of Mercy (instruct the ignorant; counsel the doubtful; admonish the sinner; comfort the afflicted; forgive offenses willingly; bear wrongs patiently; pray for the living and the dead) become the rubric for living our faith through works.

Therefore, I encourage all the faithful during this Month of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary to begin considering how you, as a Catholic Christian, will best continue to live your faith through works.

How will you continue to live the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, when the Church has closed her Holy Doors?

How will you continue to remind yourself of the need to extend mercy - to yourself, and to others?

And, what will your next liturgical year look like, in terms of applying the principles of mercy that we have all heard and read about this year?