Let us approach the spiritual works of mercy, which we are
taught are:
To admonish sinners.
To
instruct the ignorant.
To
counsel the doubtful.
To
comfort the sorrowful.
To bear
wrongs patiently.
To
forgive all injuries.
To
pray for the living and the dead.
I suggest that in the 21st century we should
consider these works globally as well as individually. What are the global sins that should be admonished? What systems of power and domination should
be challenged that maintain people in ignorance of their beauty and their
personal value, indeed of their rights as human beings? How can we help those who are bound by doubt
of their own rights and responsibilities, or by the way their wounds make them
act out?
Note that we are admonished to bear wrongs patiently…where
is the line between that patience and abuse?
How do we learn to forgive in a way that heals us, even if the other
party does not care about forgiveness?
Praying for the living is fairly obvious; we regularly do
this and ask others to do it. Prayer for
the dead in this day and age should include the spiritually dead, and extinct
species and other living things of the world.
We are works in progress, we Christians. We can only begin to glimpse the Kingdom
during our lifetimes…let us work at the spiritual works of mercy with a view to
uncovering more and more of the Kingdom within ourselves and in our world.
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