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 step up our charitable actions, or corporal works of mercy. 

Empowered by the message to Courageously Live the Gospel, the challenge is for our diocesan community, to together complete 1,000,000 corporal works of mercy. The challenge begins in January and ends in September of this year.

Parishes, schools, and diocesan services received a toolkit to assist in developing formational materials to help educate others on the seven Corporal 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 corporal 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: “During the coming Jubilee, may they [Missionaries of Mercy] exercise their ministry by reviving hope and offering forgiveness whenever a sinner comes to them with an open heart and a penitent spirit. May they remain a source of reconciliation and an encouragement to look to the future with heartfelt hope inspired by the Father’s mercy.” 

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 Corporal 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)

By Elizabeth Hansen, FAITH Catholic

Jesus’ powerful words in the Gospel of Matthew form the basis for the traditional list of the works of mercy. When it comes to meeting physical needs, the Compendium to the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists the following actions as the 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