On April 13th, Palm Sunday, she joined more than 15 other churchgoers to visit a cemetery, pray for the dead, bring flowers and palm leaves to gravesites, and clean up the grounds.

“I don't have much experience being at gravesites, so it's kind of a first for me,” said Reid. 

What did she think of this experience?

“It’s been peaceful, and it puts my mind on the souls that are not with us now. I am just praying for them to be resting in peace,” said Reid, who belongs to Nativity Catholic Church, in Brandon.

Tammy Flippo and her ministry core team organized the cemetery visit to focus on the Works of Mercy that involve praying for the dead and caring for the gravesites. 

“It's not just the Spiritual Works of Mercy that involve praying, but also the Corporal, which is helping to clean around the headstones, those that look like they haven't been tended to in a while. As you're doing that, you can learn about the person laid to rest there, and look at the dates that they lived and pray any kind of little prayer,” said Flippo, who serves as Nativity’s Director of Faith Formation - Adults & OCIA.

While volunteer Rupert Miller cleaned leaves off a headstone, he discovered the person buried there had died on his birthday. He felt an instant connection to this soul he had never met before. 

“I pray that he sees our Father in heaven now. If he’s in Purgatory. I pray that God grant him the grace that he needs to lift him up into the Heavenly Kingdom,” said Miller in prayer while standing over the gravesite.

The participants of this special event also prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet together. The event was specifically planned in response to the Acts of Mercy Challenge launched by Bishop Gregory Parkes this year. He is challenging our community to collectively complete 1,000,000 Acts of Mercy. Anyone can participate – as individuals, families, or teams. No Work of Mercy is too small. To learn more and to contribute to the goal, visit www.Mercy2025.org. 

Did you know?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2447, the Works of Mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his or her spiritual and bodily necessities.

The Corporal Works of Mercy are found in the teachings of Jesus and give us a model for how we should treat all others, as if they were Christ in disguise. The Spiritual Works of Mercy have long been a part of the Christian tradition, appearing in the works of theologians and spiritual writers throughout history.