It all comes down to charity

 

Father Glen Mullan is pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Sinton.
 

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In the sacrament of penance (reconciliation) we prepare for Judgment Day by examining our conscience and confessing our sins while there is opportunity for forgiveness. The examination of conscience begins with the Ten Commandments, which articulate the moral law (Mt 19:16-17). In addition, we need to look within, to the seven capital sins, which are the root cause or “sin behind the sins.” Finally, our examination of conscience is not complete without the corporal works of mercy, as Jesus indicates in the parable of the sheep and goats (Mt 25:31-46).

The corporal works of mercy articulate the Great Commandment, what it means to love God above all things, and our neighbor as ourself. Jesus explicitly identifies the love of God with care of one’s fellow man: “what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me (Mt 25:45).”

And whereas the Ten Commandments and capital sins tend to be thoughts, words or deeds, sins involving the corporal works of mercy are sins of omission. Jesus makes clear we can go to hell as much for “what I have done,” as for “what I have failed to do” (Penitential Rite, Confiteor). Charity is not merely having good intentions, or the desire to help others. Charity is actual good deeds.

Jesus lists the corporal works of mercy as: 1) feed the hungry, 2) give drink to the thirsty, 3) welcome the stranger, 4) clothe the naked, 5) care for the sick and 6) visit the imprisoned. The Church’s catechetical tradition combines visiting the sick and imprisoned; welcoming the stranger and sheltering the homeless; and adds two more: ransom the captive and bury the dead.

They are called “corporal works of mercy” because they provide for man’s basic bodily needs. And yet, each of them has a spiritual focus, in that they uplift man’s dignity, since they recognize the image of Christ in human nature. The goal of the corporal works of mercy is never simply to provide man’s material well-being, but to uplift the spirit through the love of Christ. This is why some welfare programs cannot be considered works of mercy; welfare without evangelization is an abnegation of the Gospel, not a fulfillment of the divine mandate.

Feed the hungry. There are places in the world where famine and starvation are daily realities, but in our nation we are blessed with a superabundance of food. And yet, we suffer terrible “eating disorders,” such as obesity and diabetes. The main American dietary staple is literally called “junk food.”  When speaking of God’s goodness, Jesus once said, “What father among you would hand his son…a scorpion when he asks for an egg (Lk 11:12)?” And yet, we regularly do this: we give our children that which is not nutritious, we feast on that which is bad for us.

Food must be connected with love. Feeding the hungry begins at home, and the task of preparing the family meals is a work of mercy. That is to say, it is an act of true charity requiring time and attention, which builds up the individual in his dignity, and nourishes the family in its spiritual bonds. It is a service to Christ, like that of Martha providing hospitality to Jesus from her kitchen (Lk 10:38).

Give drink to the thirsty. Alcoholism is not merely a “chemical-dependency” problem rooted in the bio-chemical needs of the body, but a spiritual problem rooted in the injury of the soul. It is a profound thirst that seeks to be satisfied with drink that only exacerbates the problem. In his conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus said she should ask him for a drink, and he will provide her living water (Jn 4:10). “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Jn 4:13-14).”

To give drink to the thirsty means leading one’s brother to the grace of Christ, which alone satisfies the thirst in the soul. The “twelve-step” program is one such program that accomplishes this. It is a spiritual method, calling for faith and repentance, which are the doorway of the Gospel. It is a successful program for this very reason.

Welcome the stranger. This work, too, begins at home with the very people around us whom God has put in our lives. People can live under the same roof and yet remain strangers to each other, being isolated by so many distractions, and even raising their own barriers to communion. 

The “smartphone,” while helping to connect people in many ways, also becomes a distraction that takes us away from the people before us. Likewise, television demands that its audience focus on it, drawing people away from interaction with each other. Young children clamoring for attention are often placed before the television instead, which becomes their new friend and companion. 

Work and chores can also become preoccupations to the point of harming relationships. To welcome the stranger means giving the time and attention to the person before us, to the people around us. It means allowing ourselves to be interrupted and inconvenienced by the priority of the person. And in this way we lift the dignity of our fellow man, serving Christ.

Clothe the naked. Pornography is a scourge of our times, and a sign that God has been abandoned by society. To engage in pornography requires becoming “shameless,” which means suppressing one’s personal dignity as expressed through the body. The reverence expressed in the veil is taken away, in order that the sacred might be profaned. In baptism we are literally “clothed…with Christ (Gal 3:27),” receiving the dignity of the children of God.

It is a work of mercy to avoid pornography, and when it is encountered, to make the conscious act of “clothing the naked,” beginning within our own thoughts and intentions, and the modesty of our dress. The other person’s dignity is best affirmed and maintained, when our own dignity is not compromised by participation or indulgence in indecency.

Visit the sick/imprisoned. It is particularly the homebound elderly and the sick in nursing homes who experience the cruel prison of isolation and abandonment. Unable to fully take care of the usual tasks, and increasingly isolated by the deaths and similar handicaps of their peers, the spiritual well-being of these “least of the brethren” depends upon regular visitation by their fellow man. God so designed our human nature that in its beginning and ending we are fully dependent upon others.

Charity is a requirement of human nature. The Church’s practice since the beginning, of bringing Eucharist to the homebound who cannot attend Mass, is the model of this work of mercy. It is Christ who visits, and Christ who is visited.

With this last parable in Matthew 25, we complete the teachings of Jesus prior to his Passion, and we bring to conclusion our Church year. It is the final word on the Christian life. When all is said and done, and we stand before the judgment seat of the glorious King, it all comes down to charity: what we did, or failed to do, for the brother of ours in reduced circumstances.