Ordinary of the Mass
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Mass Text - English
Memoráre
“Be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves.”
The Church had us read the Epistle
of Saint James last Sunday and today, as well as during the Divine Office
all throughout this past week. And one of the main themes of this Epistle
is the idea that our Catholic Faith has to be more than just a theoretical
system of beliefs. That is, for it to have value, it must move us from
belief to action.
It must move us to prayer, as our
Lord tells us in today's Gospel.
It must move us to moral behavior, as Saint James tells us when he speaks of
“keep[ing] one's self unspotted from this world.” And it must move us to do
the various things needed for the spiritual and bodily needs of those around
us—what James refers to as “visiting the fatherless and widows in their
tribulations.” In another part of the same Epistle he summarizes all of
this by emphatically stating that “faith without good works is dead.”
“The devils believe, yet tremble.”
Now, in order that we might
understand this idea of looking after “the spiritual and bodily needs of
those around us,” the Church in her catechisms has summarized the things we
should do in two short lists, known as the “Spiritual" and “Corporal Works
of Mercy.” You've all heard them before, but let me list them once again
anyway:
|
The
Corporal Works of Mercy
|
|
The
Spiritual Works of Mercy |
|
To feed the hungry. |
To
admonish the sinner. |
|
To
give drink to the thirsty. |
To
instruct the ignorant. |
|
To
clothe the naked |
To
counsel the doubtful |
|
To
visit the imprisoned. |
To
comfort the sorrowful. |
|
To
shelter the homeless. |
To
bear wrongs patiently. |
|
To
visit the sick |
To
forgive all injuries |
|
To
Bury the dead. |
To
pray for the living and the dead |
Most of these Works of Mercy are
self-explanatory. And most of them—except those that relate to the dead—are
intended to help people to help themselves. The Catechism, for example,
urges those who have an abundance of material goods to provide food, drink,
and shelter, by making work available; at least for the able-bodied. And
what we do for the sick and the imprisoned is to be directed either toward
preparing them for the next world, or toward returning them to productive
life in this world.
The same can be said for the
Spiritual Works. The admonishing, and instructing, and counseling, and
comforting, and forgiving, and even the praying that we do are largely
directed toward making people more self-sufficient in their spiritual lives.
And, of course, we have both
corporal and spiritual duties toward the dead, who can no longer help
themselves, and who, thereby, have an even greater claim on our generosity.
In modern times, we might identify
yet another Spiritual Work, as important as the others—and that is to help
those around us to “Hold fast to their Catholic Faith.” So many people
have reacted to the breakdown in the Church and Society today by giving up
and walking away from their Faith. A few have joined other churches, but
most seem to have lost faith in God altogether. So it is up to us to
realize that while the situation may be difficult, it is not hopeless. We
can help those around us to retain their faith by our good example,
encouragement, and prayer.
A few years ago I spoke to a lady in
Hawaii who has been having all manner of troubles with her modernist
Bishop. She had gotten letters of encouragement from a few people, and was
just thrilled to find that there were other people “out there” who were
sympathetic. In Hawaii, she explained, they cannot just drive to the next
state to find a priest to offer Mass for them, and even getting from island
to island is expensive—but knowing that she and her family and friends were
not alone made a great deal of difference.
The same thing was true in Japan a
few hundred years ago. After the initial work there by missionary priests
and nuns, the emperor forbid the practice of the Catholic Faith by law.
Catholic families literally went
for generations without seeing a priest. But they knew that people whom
they would never meet were still keeping the Faith, and that some were even
praying for them. And when missionary priests were finally able to re-enter
Japan, they found people who were already practical Catholics—people who had
been baptized by their parents and taught to revere what little they had of
the Faith as a family treasure.
Perhaps we can do the same for
others who are in need. We ought to view it as an opportunity—to give life
to our own Faith, which Saint James tells us would otherwise be dead. All
of us are fortunate in that we can perform the Corporal and Spiritual Works
of Mercy, and that we can pray for those whose Faith would otherwise be
threatened, and that we can support them through our example and
encouragement.
We are
fortunate, indeed,
that we have the opportunity to be doers of the word,
and not just hearers.
