We must decrease, others must increase

There was a group called “Happy Helpers for the Homeless” of which I was a part in my twenties. It was started by a young woman who when she was a girl made sandwiches for homeless men and women around her. Her expanded group made hundreds of sandwiches on Friday nights and distributed them to needy people on the streets of our area on Saturdays. It was an amazing experience of serving the materially poor, and one of the best ones in our area of which I’ve been a part. The best part, of course, was serving the food and talking to those in need. But, not far behind that was the fellowship with other Christians when making and distributing the sandwiches. It’s always good to be with other Catholics outside of Mass because you see more of their humanity, but especially in such a solid Christian activity of serving the poor.

There are different types of poverty, so there are various ways to serve the poor. My first experience of serving the poor as a Catholic adult was youth ministry. The youth minister explicitly told me from the start that the teens were from broken homes and needed committed adults in the Church. Thus, I was being invited to serve them spiritually and emotionally as they were in spiritual and emotional poverty. If you look at the list of spiritual works of mercy below, you will see that serving the poor includes evangelizing and teaching the Faith. This is my main service to the poor as a priest in the United States as there is much spiritual poverty in our country.

One of the most Christian aspects of serving the poor is that it is unselfish. In it, we decrease and others increase. This can be the beginning of holiness and openness to the full Gospel in making our comeback in faith.

Corporal works of mercy:

· To feed the hungry

· To give drink to the thirsty

· To clothe the naked

· To harbour the harbourless

· To visit the sick

· To ransom the captive

· To bury the dead

The spiritual works of mercy:

· To instruct the ignorant

· To counsel the doubtful

· To admonish sinners

· To bear wrongs patiently

· To forgive offences willingly

· To comfort the afflicted