Seven corporal acts/works of mercy: To feed the hungry. To give drink to the thirsty. To clothe the naked. To give shelter to the homeless. To visit the sick. To visit the imprisoned. To bury the dead. Thank you for this lovely talk.
Is "terminally online" equivalent to "imprisoned"? Seems like some human interaction -- even just a few kind and attentive words, from the mouth of one human face, over a few yards of air, to the ear of another human face, might make a difference in people's lives.
Re: visiting people in hospitals: when my son nearly drowned at 18 months and we spent the night in the hospital, one friend came to support me. It meant more to me than I can explain. It was really important that she did that and I will always appreciate it.
It's amazing how simple, but rich a list of 7 tasks can be. I love how the Catholic Church can distill it down into such a simple forumula. Thank you, Bishop Barron for taking it the extra step to call us all out to serve.
St. Francis' prayer turned to song comes to mind seeing the title for this topic. "Make me an instrument of peace" (and teach me to love so that I might be loved) I have lived in homelessness since 2019. I just started renting a bunk and a locker in a shelter this year. I can't imagine a better place for me right now, because it's a Catholic Social Services place. I'm grateful to live there, because I am a working disabled person. I would only live with family members or my boyfriend if I don't live where I do now. I'm saving for an SUV and a camper to renovate and park in a year round campground, but when I'm finally able to leave the hospitality house, I will still find a way and time to volunteer where I currently live. Thank you for this topic.
pls pray for me, a doctor jaded from years of facing human suffering and from working in a crushing healthcare system. i have been finding it harder & harder to find peace & fulfilment in my job, a vocation whose very nature is ministering to the sick. God have mercy on me.
You deal with people on their worst day, when they are least likely to be thankful, and heal them and give them hope; there is no nobler profession. I have been healed by doctors whose names I never learned and who I never saw again to thank, so from all those patients like me: Thanks, Doc!
Will pray for you. Thank you for your vocation and profession. Have you spoken to a priest about what you have just shared? Perhaps a sabbatical to help you get some rest? Would that be possible? 🙏 Praying for you.
I feel that way struggling with addiction - I get a handle then same ol same ol’ comes back to get me - I think that’s when it’s good to have a Christian friend to talk to - to visit. Also confession, extra masses, a friend and time off away. Thank you for your service☸️
Hi Emcron, I’m a hospice nurse facing a very similar sort of problem. I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone. Sometimes a change in venue can be a good thing - that’s what I’m going to be doing. I’m praying for you
Life long Catholic. As a young man got sick then had to leave college and eventually disabled. At the end of the day it was govt. Welfare that paid most of my bills... and I thank God for this. As for help from my church it was never forthcoming... and I often asked. That saddens me and embittered me. Pray for me as I pray for u. Jesus provided for me and the sacraments sustained me.. no doubt. As for food, clothing and shelter the church looked the other way. Pray for me as the pain of rejection has left me at times... bitter. Tnx
It happens everywhere. It happened to my family many times but we kept the faith. There is a big distinction between your religion and your local church. Try not to be bitter. It doesn't get you anywhere. People didn't help you when you need. Well it's their sin. Their sins of omission. They will be called to explain it in due time. Make sure you don't do the same. If you are not bedridden you can do some of the corporal works of mercy. Show your love. Love is like courtesy. The more you give it away the more it returns to you. The bishop mentioned about how good he felt coming back after visiting the sick. An after thought the problem with Catholic charity today is that you have to make a deal with the church. They help you, you have to do something for them. If there are any Buddhists or Sikh temple groups or charities near you, approach them instead. They help you without asking anything in return which will leave you more comfortable. In our region there were floods. The Sikh temple groups brought help to all. They did not ask are you Sikh? They set up a drive through with rice, flour, cooking oil, flashlights, toilet rolls, towels, blankets etc etc. You picked up what you needed. Again they didn't ask whether you were Sikh or even if you lived in the flooded area.
I was just talking to my daughter yesterday about how to keep the grandchildren faithful to Christ in the Church. Talking is not doing the job. We came to the conclusion that action would be more effective. Thank you for this discussion! Now we have a concrete path to walk.
0 seconds ago A wonderful episode and here’s a wonderful example of Christian charity. I was visiting a friend in Colorado Springs in 1991. It was a very cold February day. On a nearby street corner a young man was selling flowers and he had no coat (we later learned he’d just moved his young family from California). My friend had a second coat and took it to him along with a lawn chair so he did get tired from standing on that corner. He told him to keep the down coat. We asked him when he was heading home and gave him a ride. As I recall he picked the guy up the next day and took ‘im home. My friend said it was not a big deal; he was doing what we are supposed to be doing. Part of the job while in human form.
Thank you for this awesome reflection on the Seven corporals acts of Mercy. It brought back many memories of my mother a single mom who invited these two strangers into her home who happen stop at our house asking to do yard work for some food. I remember her saying "come on in let me feed first." My mother was our prime example of showing these Corporal works of mercy, she always said "God first in all we do" meaning for me was if you see there is a need to feed someone do that first then come and sit at the table to eat. I try to continue that legacy and enrich my children to do the same, which sometimes amazes me, my son who was involved in youth group, we were driving home one day, and it was very cold, and he happen to see a homeless man with not shoes. He then turns to me and said stop the car. It took me by surprise but i stopped and he got off and went to meet that homeless man and took off his shoes and gave them to this homeless person. Tears weld up in my eyes and i said a small thank you prayer to Jesuse for helping instill in him this random act of kindness.
Dear Bishop Barron, may God keep working on you. I love you and all people working along with you. It’s very motivating and empowering to hear you. Thank you for accompanying us in our journey back to our Heavenly Father. My prayers and love for all Word on Fire team.
This was a great episode, really enjoyed it. What a great answer to today's question as well. Understanding it is the dysfunction of humanity and at the same time how people, become the body of Christ as we take part in these so often overlooked yet priceless acts of love. What a wonderful show today, great job Brandon, Bishop and team much love.
This is our calling, John 15:12. If we don’t act on it, then how authentic are we as followers of Jesus. i know I have lots of room to improve in this area. Dorthy Day, Missionaries of Charity and many others are wonderful examples.
I think it is important to care for the needy members of our families also. I get very upset because I suffer from autoimmune chronic fatigue and find it difficult to cook and clean. My sister lives 15mins drive from me. She visits people in hospital and feeds the hungry on the streets, yet she very rarely visits me or offers to help. Mother Theresa said that the sick, hungry and homeless are frequently members of our own family. Why do Catholic churchgoers often forget the needy in their own families?
The difference is that helping family members too much familiarity easily breeds contempt. Usually, members of the family tends to be totally dependent, abusive and so ungrateful.
@@marystenson2852 I have reached out to others and hope to pay someone to help me with cleaning and sorting. The only difficulty with strangers coming into your home is it is difficult to know who to trust these days. Sadly, when you live alone you automatically become more vulnerable. I have been a very loving and caring sister and cared for my disabled father before he died at 91yrs of age. I carried this responsibility more or less on my own. I was a teacher and also helped in my local Catholic Church. I had to give up helping others because my father’s needs were paramount.
@@lpetitoiseau9146 I have asked my sister for help but she says she cannot cope? She cleans her parish church. I wonder if she thinks that her work for the church is more valuable in God’s eyes? I believe God is present in people and he gives us our families to love and care for too.
It is not acquaintance at all! God is truly watching on everyone! Since I just post my short video about “LOVE”. then am led to this video talk! It grants me a lot joyful tears😢😢❤😢😢
Pretend there is honesty in suggesting it is best for everyone to walk with one foot in someone's fantasyland. Using middle-ages literature to view a ancient's literature, imagining the context. Obvious to all, if God existed then theologians would be fiction, we would all know about Her. There is little understanding of quality among the believers. God made Mormons so Christians would know how Jews feel.
Thank you Brandon for reminding us of the practical love in our own families. It reminds of a constant theme in Martin Luther’s teaching on loving the neighbour: that it takes place in our normal vocations in life, as fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and all kinds of secular works from cleaners to execute directors.
Someone once told me, "Know what the greatest nation in the world is? DONATION!" 😊 i see no lies. Edit: I absolutely LOVE THE COVER of With the Smell of the Sheep, Pope Francis' face is... Adorable 😊 The intro is fabulous too, Bishop!!!
Thank you both for your work. If you don't mind my saying, while I do agree that parental love is often sacrificial, I don't really see feeding your children as an act of mercy. Saying so is rather letting parents off the hook. Parents of young children should be teaching their children these acts of mercy. Let your 5 year old pick out a canned vegetable in the grocery store to donate to the church food pantry. Then let your child carry that canned vegetable into the church and place it in the food donation bin. Have your children write letters to extended family who they don't often see who may be sick or lonely. Forgo adding one more thing to your child's schedule and instead spend that time each week visiting grandma or visiting a nursing home. A young child can brighten a person's day in a way that no adult can. The list is endless as to the acts of mercy a young family can do together.
A person can practice "sheltering the homeless," by sharing their home through organizations like "Home Match," renamed "Front Porch/Covia," which matches people who have an extra room in their house with a seeker in need of a room.
A very good interview which enlighten all who want to be helpful and loving to all who are in need of such .Who doesn't need love and care!Whoever we are we always need love and care of all around us all times.🙋😇🌹
I love the corporal & spiritual works of Mercy. Pope Francis added an 8th to each: care of the earth. I hope you'll speak on this corporal & spiritual work of Mercy
Something very simple to do; my son is growing out of everything very fast and every so often I go through his clothes and give it away to someone who may need it so she has clothes now for her child
OK, I struggle with this notion every day. Not too long ago, I stopped to eat at a sandwich place, and when I was leaving I saw a homeless appearing fellow struggling up onto the sidewalk in front of the shop. I got off my motorcycle, and gave the him $20, expressing the hope that he would use it to get something good to eat. Well fine, I think that sort of thing is exactly what you are talking about. But, I have a life. It keeps me at home a lot, and even when I go out I rarely see someone in obvious need, such as that fellow I gave the $20 to. So, am I supposed to stop doing my life, and just go out hunting for needy people? I don’t think so. I don’t think Jesus expected the bakers to stop baking bread, or the cobblers to stop shoeing horses, or the vintners to stop pressing grapes. Somehow, the Christian expression of love and charity needs to fit into our daily lives. Not all of us, in fact relatively few of us, are called to simply give up all worldly endeavors and go off ministering to the less fortunate. So, I’m thinking that being individually charitable when the occasion arises, plus contributing to organized charitable organizations is about the best we can do.
Very well said. I once heard a story on a radio program in which a guy called in and told his down-and-out story. He told the host that because of the “kindness of strangers” he lived for three years an alcoholic on the streets. He said that they were also the worst three years of his life and “kind people” made it possible because he could always find someone to buy him a beer, give him food, or better yet cash. And he usually found a good safe place to sleep every night outside. His recommendation? Don’t ever give a down-and-outer cash money because cash is the hardest thing to get. Giving food, water, or a bus ticket is great-but never give cash, alcohol or drugs. That guy’s story changed how I give. He said if he couldn’t get food and money (to buy beer), he would have quit that life sooner than he did and sought resources to get away from it rather than stay in it.
By having a family. Only living in a family as a child, sibling, spouse (heterosexually of course) and as a parent, can you learn all the different levels of love. The family is the only place where one can experience the great happiness and deepest love.
I'd be interested in knowing what people do when they encounter a person who has no home, holding a sign, or walking the streets w all his/her belongings.
Lord Jesus, having received your most sacred Body and Blood, grant me the grace to become what I have received. Help me to remember that in the world, you have no body but mine, no hands, no feet on earth but mine. Mine are the eyes which you look with compassion on this world, mine are the feet with which you walk to do good, mine are the hands with which with which you bless the world. Mine are the hands, mine are the feet, mine are the eyes, mine become of your body when I receive you. Dear Lord, most importantly, make mine heart as yours, so all the rest work to your glory. Amen
Thank you for enlightening us, about corporal works of mercy. My question is if we wanted to visit the sick, say in the hospital. Who do we go to And ask permission?
How many work of mercy could have been done with the money that was used for the building that was referenced. The Catholic church needs to return to these works.
Pretend there is honesty in suggesting it is best for everyone to walk with one foot in someone's fantasyland. Using middle-ages literature to view a ancient's literature, imagining the context. Obvious to all, if God existed then theologians would be fiction, we would all know about Her. There is little understanding of quality among the believers. God made Mormons so Christians would know how Jews feel.
These are wonderful sentiments and even directives. However, defer to the professionals who deal with these communities every day. It can be terribly naive, however nobly intentioned, to vault or launch oneself in the proximity of those in dire need. I had a friend who tried to befriend a homeless person as the good Catholic she was and was tragically murdered by this unstable person. Common sense is an act of love for oneself and loved ones.
Come on, Bishop Barron! Give the Church's answer to Gigi's question! Original sin broke human nature by making us weak for the tendency to choose our way over God's way. Gigi is talking about her parents' ACTUAL sins: their personal choices to do life on their terms instead of God's terms. We inherit through the flesh our tendency to use the gift of free will to choose against our natural goodness expressed in what God tells us is good for us (aka his "law"). God tells us that it is the fulfilment of our nature as man and woman to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We decide that we have a better idea of human fulfillment: to cottacept and abort. From Adam and Eve we get the weakness that makes us think we know better than God and the best thing to make us happy will be - for example - porn and fornication. We use our free will to commit actual sins when we use porn or fornicate. Those actual sins need to be repented of, confessed and eradicated from our lives. We can't pass them on to our children in the sense that they are not responsible morally for confessing or repenting of them. But our children will have their own tendency to sin that might be expressed in gluttony or sloth or violent outbursts or lying, etc., because the tendency to sin is passed on since Adam and Eve broke with God by choosing against him in the first place. The Bishop sounded more Jungian than Catholic a bit in his answer because he's confusing the consequences of ACTUAL sin with the consequences of ORIGINAL sin. Original sin gives us the inborn tendency to choose "not God" and against what God tells us is good for human fulfillment. (We choose hate, not love; greed, not giving; lust, not reverence, etc.) The consequences of ACTUAL sin are simple and obvious: if I choose to sin against you, I am free to do that. God will not throw a freeze on me and stop me because he made me free. But it DOES mean that you will get hurt. So yes, the pregnant woman who does drugs will hurt her baby. The parents who are violent or neglectful or addicted will saddle their children with physical and emotional and psychological consequences that can be felt for generations. This is what scripture refers to when we are told that the sins of the parents will be visited on the children to the third and fourth generation: the consequences of your sin WILL be felt by your children and your children's children. But that's your ACTUAL sins, not original sin. Bishop Barron muddled it all up by not starting with clear distinctions. When you think you've found a paradox or contradiction in God's teaching, ALWAYS begin by making the necessary distinctions: original sin is passed on through the flesh; actual sins are not passed on to others; the EFFECTS of actual sins on others can be felt for generations. Three distinctly different concepts.
GOD THE FATHER CANNOT DIE; JESUS DIED FOR US: God cannot die. Everyone who was created by God will go through an exchange from death to eternal life or from death to eternal damnation. Jesus died for the sins of the world and was raised by God's power and spirit alone. Those who say Jesus is God are blaspheming against the Father who gave Jesus life (John 5:26). No man has seen God the Father; his Son hath declared him (John 1:18). The Son speaks on behalf of the Father (John 7:17), for he is the image of the invisible God and the *firstbegotten from the dead* (Col 1:15-19). He gave his Son all power in heaven and earth, for everything that the Son has was given to him by his Father and his God (John 20:17). And he also gave his Son so that we may learn of Him, the glory of the one true God (John 17:3). For without the Father, there would be no means of salvation in Jesus Christ (John 8:28-29). Repent, and God will forgive.
@@jacktracy8356Jesus Christ indeed is both true God and true man. But why God seemed so far away from all these turbulent and still dysfunctional world?
@@jacktracy8356 If there had been no Bible to look up to, then what could have been this world would be? Maybe worst. But then it appears, even among bible believing christians find it difficult to be at peace with their faith practices. Same as other religious book inspired practices, whether Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism or Islam each promised inner peace and submission to a higher entity, but quarrelling in praxis.
@@jacktracy8356 It is written: "But to us there is but *one God, the Father,* of whom are all things, and we in him; and *one Lord Jesus Christ,* by whom are all things, and we by him." 1 Corinthians 8:6 The Father, the one who Jesus prays to and goes to--the one who he was sent to declare the glory, is the one true God (John 17:3). God lives and dwells in Jesus, and it is God the Father who does all the works...for the Son can do nothing without the Father (John 14:10). Jesus and the Father are one, and *we are told to become one even as they are one* (John 17:21-23). We cannot be God, and nor can Jesus; because he is the only *begotten Son* of God. Jesus said if you don't believe HIM, then believe HIS WORKS' SAKE...because the works are of the Father--for when we have seen the Son finish the Father's work, you have seen the Father finish His work also. That is the mystery of godliness.
Thank you! Its so easy for me to wallow in my own needs and believing i have nothing to offer anyone else. This world makes so many of us believe we're useless, but this podcast reminds me Im not useless.
Bishop Barron, you are my brother, you are my friend, you are in my daily prayers, and I give thanks for you! My brothers and sisters, did you know you could buy a few pizzas and walk into a homeless shelter mid-afternoon with them and a case of water, a roll of paper towels, with one square serving as plate and another as napkin. Ask a staffer where's the best place to set up. Shake hands and ask each walk-in their name as you hand them a slice and a bottle of water. Stick around for awhile after you finish distributing. Circulate and ask, 'where did you grow up?' or 'what's your favorite movie?', something they can answer, person-to-person, regardless of their current plight. You may well be the only person who touched them, called them by name, and had a normal conversation with them for a very long time! I started doing this years ago and it's now a big deal, two restaurants donating food, friends leaving boxers and t-shirts on my porch, purchasing sweats and socks on sale, distributing rosary beads and prayer cards---God is great!
To add a subset to visiting those in prison...hospitals, etc., sometimes a phone call (or text if person uses that medium) provides a similar connection of love, to let the other know that someone has thought of them. I've found that outreach w/aging friends in different cities, who often feel lonely & forgotten.
This is 100% correct. It’s easy to not do this but I have been focused on this for many many years because honestly that’s what it’s all about. And I thank you for putting that out there because service is very important and people need to hear that from the pulpit don’t they?
My old Parish had volunteers bring communion to the sick and home bound. We also had a food pantry and clothing for the poor. The knights of Columbus also have opportunities to do all these things. My wife and I also would be snacks on Wednesday to daily mass to honor St Joseph. We still help as we can. People are afraid that they will lose something if they help and they don't realize how much small acts give you. Be courageous
"Visit the imprisoned" I wonder -- is "terminally online" considered "imprisoned"? Some outreach oriented around human connection might be useful, there.
