Spiritual Works of Mercy

There are so many things that I love about being Catholic. It would take so much more room than I have here to enumerate them. The elucidation of the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy is just one of them. The Corporal Works of Mercy are, I think, fairly well understood, but it is the Spiritual Works of Mercy that have always resonated with me, especially the call to bear wrongs patiently.

Image Credit: FatherBroom.com

How hard that one is! How often we are presented with the opportunity to do it, though. I feel that I have been wronged so often lately, and it has been so acutely painful. It is a characteristic of my personality type (melancholic, obviously) that I am overly sensitive regarding injustice (as it applies both to myself and to others). It is so comforting to know that we are called (we are *obligated*) to perform the Spiritual Works of Mercy just as much as we are the Corporal - so I better get to the business of bearing those wrongs -- and patiently. 

As with everything about Catholicism, it brings me so much comfort. If you'd like to read more about this very old practice (going back at least to St. Thomas Aquinas - the Angelic Doctor), this article is quite good: Are The Works of Mercy Ever Obligatory?