That is why during this Jubilee year, the Diocese of Saint Petersburg is challenging you. Parishioners, students, and all persons throughout our diocese are challenged to not only continue the work we are currently doing but to consider other charitable actions, or corporal and spiritual works of mercy. 

Empowered by the message of our Pastoral Plan to Courageously Live the Gospel, the challenge is for our diocesan community, to together complete 1,000,000 works of mercy. The challenge begins in January and ends on December 15, 2025, at 11:59 AM.

Parishes, schools, and diocesan services received a toolkit to assist in developing formational materials to help educate others on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. The toolkit also proves ideas on possible events for the community to participate in like, “days of mercy” or “mornings of mercy” in which parishioners can actively participate. The diocesan website provides common locations for each parish to engage their parishioners in these works and share the Good News of how 
we are meeting the challenge. 

To help learn more about the works of mercy and to challenge their parishioners, parishes will delve deeper into the understanding of the corporal works of mercy (through homilies that correlate with the Sunday readings, parish and school websites, bulletin inserts, and social media). Parishes and schools will be invited to set a goal for their faith community so together the parishioners can participate in the joy of giving to those in need. 

In the papal bull Spes Non Confundit (“Hope Does Not Disappoint”), Pope Francis wrote: “Works of mercy are also works of hope that give rise to immense gratitude. Care given to [those in particularly difficult situations, especially those affected by illnesses or disabilities that severely restrict their personal independence and freedom,] is a hymn to human dignity, a song of hope that calls for the choral participation of society as a whole."

The experience of mercy, whether we are the ones who give or those being helped, gives rise to joy. This is because mercy opens our hearts to the hope of new life. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

And so, in this Holy Year of Hope, we ask God not just for hope for ourselves but to help us be instruments of His hope for others. As part of the celebrations around the Jubilee Year, through the Works of Mercy, we will make His mercy manifest in our communities. 

“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”

(Matthew 25:35-36)

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 Spiritual Works of Mercy have long been a part of the Christian tradition, appearing in the works of theologians and spiritual writers throughout history. The Corporal Works of mercy are found in Jesus' teaching in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25.

When it comes to meeting physical and spiritual needs, the Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists the following:

Corporal Works of Mercy

• Feed the hungry
• Give drink to the thirsty
• Clothe the naked
• Shelter the homeless
• Visit the sick
• Visit the imprisoned
• Bury the dead

Spiritual Works of Mercy

• Instruct the ignorant (Teach others about God and the faith)
• Counsel the doubtful
• Admonish the sinner (Encourage reconciliation with God and others)
• Bear wrongs patiently
• Forgive offenses willingly
• Comfort the afflicted
• Pray for the living and the dead