Explaining the Faith - The Corporal Works of Mercy: Why They are Necessary for Salvation

hello and welcome to the national shrine of the divine mercy i'm father chris aylar and it's an honor to have you with us i apologize from the very beginning we're having a lot of technical difficulties which obviously we know means that the evil one is not wanting this message out there and it's all the more important reason why you are with us as you can see our topic today i'm taking you back to one of my seminary courses that i loved because i don't feel in seminaries today we teach a much enough about living god's mercy you know we learn about the theology we learn about the church history and that's good i've been walking you through that but how do we live it father how do we actually do it what do we need and that is the topic today so we're going back to seminary with you and so thank you for joining us this way you can go to seminary it doesn't cost you a thing and you don't even have to leave your room so today's topic is the works of mercy we're just going to be doing the corporal works today and infamous question are you saved by faith alone we hear that from non-catholics all the time faith alone you don't need works we're going to talk about that in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we ask you send the holy spirit down upon us to open our minds and hearts to receive the grace you wish to bestow this grace that will help us live your works of mercy and we ask this through christ our lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen well you know it's funny because here i've been preaching about the works of mercy and we had a very busy week in chicago this last week hosting the catholic marketing network and so here i am learning and teaching or i should say teaching about mercy and preaching to you how to live it don't think god doesn't test me so i get to that to the airport after fighting chicago traffic which was unbelievable and i'm there and i'm ready to get on my flight and the flight that's right before me this poor girl uh the airlines now you know i mean we're bl bless them there i i know they're trying but this girl was sent to the wrong gate all the way across the wrong airport of chicago and you have no idea how long that takes to get back and forth if you haven't been there so she comes back to the gate and she missed her flight it was the last flight of the evening she had no clothes they were on the plane she had no money they wouldn't put her up in a hotel her flight was delayed from the earlier so it wasn't even her fault and she's crying and i'm sitting there and i only have 60 dollars on me so i go up to her and i give her the sixty dollars and just said you know i this is this i've been in your position before and she looked at me and didn't say a word i i don't know what to take of that but you know what it doesn't matter it doesn't matter i think she was just so distraught and so i sat back down next to a guy who also had the same thing happen to him and he missed that exact same flight and he said to me you know he goes are you a pastor and i said uh yes a catholic priest and he said you know in the midst i said you were on this flight too i said boy i've been there before it really tries the patience and he says i've realized that the best way to do is just keep calm in these moments and he went into this very deep explanation it was very fruitful for me of hearing this lay person explain to me a priest about being patient and and he even used the word merciful and i thought this was amazing so sure enough i get onto my flight and i'm trying to work to do this talk i'm trying to do this entire talk last night on a plane at 11 o'clock at night and of course i always get next to the screaming child that does not be quiet the entire flight so my mind can't focus then it is freezing inside the cabin i'm literally numb they had the air conditioning on so hard so i'm like okay lord then they tell us there's a delay so we're sitting on the tarmac now for 20 minutes then 40 minutes then an hour and there's no word there's no update pretty soon it's midnight i'm still in chicago it's close to midnight i'm still in chicago and then all of a sudden they come onto the loudspeaker and they say there's another problem that they gotta deal with i'm like oh my gosh lord this is where it's time to exercise mercy and so i i i want to preach yes but i also want to live it with you so these examples are great for me this is an amazing opportunity for us to be together in these works of mercy so let's start with what i think is very very important um you know when we look at this these works of mercy are not optional they're commanded by god and the words that god uses are not open for debate he says you either do this or you don't get to heaven now our protestant brothers and sisters god bless them they they try many of them have live a stronger faith than we catholics many catholics but we have the fullness of the truth one of the examples we hear always from people is that you are saved by faith alone and not by works and i had a woman you've all heard me tell that story probably about walmart where this woman comes up to me i have my benedict cross on and she says i wasn't a priest then and she says are you catholic i said yes she goes why do you belong to a religion that doesn't follow the bible i'm like what she's like romans 3 28. i'm like okay what's romans 3 28 i didn't even know you are saved by faith alone and not by works now we're in trouble because that's not what the catholic church teaches and so the catholic church doesn't teach that romans 3 28 you are saved by faith alone she said and not by works well we're in trouble i remember going home thinking why am i catholic this doesn't follow the bible but you know what that's not what the bible says the bible says you are saved by faith we believe that it doesn't say the word alone martin luther added it the only place in the bible that says faith alone is in the book of james where he says you are not saved by faith alone james 2 24 and so it says you got to keep reading because it says you are saved by faith and not by works of the law meaning you need to be circumcised to be saved meaning those kind of laws we as catholics believe that so we are biblical now this is more important because when questioned about this when luther added the word alone here's luther's response now either we a religion formed by jesus christ or we follow one founded by a man who said this when asked why he added the word alone martin luther said i will it i command it and my will is reason enough that's problematic all right we are talking about works of love not of the works of the law you need works of love in first corinthians 13 2 it says if i have faith that can move mountains but do not have love i am nothing this is what we catholics mean by works works of love not the law let's look at our next slide and this is something important this is james 2 24. i just read it let's go on through 2 26 even see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone for as the body apart from the spirit is dead so faith apart from works is dead this is scriptural this isn't man-made catholic humble jumbo which we keep being told it is this is in the scriptures and so we have to understand that matthew 19 17 says if you want eternal life jesus says keep the commandments he didn't say when the when the young rich man asked him how do i get eternal life he didn't say faith alone how did jesus answer him when he was asked how do i get eternal life he said keep the commandments that means we need both as matthew 25 the sheep and the goats what you gave me when i was hungry you gave me food when i was thirsty you gave me drink welcome into the kingdom of your father you have eternal life to those who don't away with you into the fire it's very clear now does that mean we're saved through works no and we'll explain that all right let's go to the next slide because that's the one i was just talking about matthew 25 for i was hungry this could be the basis of the talk for i was hungry and you gave me something to eat i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink i was a stranger and you invited me in i needed clothes and you clothed me i was sick and you looked after me i was in prison and you came to visit me this is what jesus is talking about we are not only to receive the mercy of god we always pray for that lord have mercy on me lord have mercy on me christ have mercy on me this is good we should a is ask for god's mercy so first thing we're supposed to do is first ask for mercy for ourselves but it doesn't stop there we then have to use it that mercy and in by being merciful to others through words deeds and prayer you can do any one of those say something nice do something nice pray something nice we are to practice the corporal that's of the body physical things those works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy like praying for people we'll talk about that in two weeks because next week is the first saturday we're doing marian apparitions starting with the very first one now jesus says in luke 6 36 be merciful as your father is merciful what is mercy mercy is taking love to the highest level what's the highest virtue love greater than all the others faith hope notice that faith which is what protestants say if you are saved by faith alone faith hope but the greatest of these is love there's your answer we can't do this without works of love love is manifested in what you do for somebody i can tell you all day long i love you but the second i'm not there for you the second i avoid you the second i don't do anything nice for you the second that i do something bad to you i don't love you i can say it all day long jesus said whoever people say lord lord not all of you are going to enter the kingdom of god but those who do the will of my father so this is what is mercy is love put into action that's the definition of mercy it is only and this is here's the thing that people don't get not only is it doing good but it's also avoiding the bad these sins aren't as serious though we pray out of weakness or we pray for mercy out of weakness you know paul says that if we are dominated by our flesh we will not make it to heaven how do we know this galatians 5 19 now the works of the flesh are plain immorality impurity licentiousness idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy anger selfishness dissension party spirit envy drunkenness carousing he covers it about all doesn't he and i think every one of us listening to that is like at one time or another in our lives i'm guilty of that and he says i have warned you this is saint paul i warn you as i warned you before that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of god so it is about what we do but it doesn't start and end with what we do it begins with grace then you got to have faith then you got to do this now i've talked about grace already i've talked about faith already so now i'm getting to what you do with it it's called good works doesn't mean you're saved by those works we're only saved by jesus christ but we'll talk about that now this faith and works is very important let's go to our next slide okay the next slide says and count out i'm sorry and come out those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment hmm that is very very and i missed one i'm sorry i'm going to put another one so brother mark can go back one i'm sorry i missed one because this is from galatians 6 do not be deceived god is not mocked for whatever a man sows he will soon reap for he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption eternal death but he who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life so sorry i mixed up brother mark i hope we got that right on the screen if not that's okay you get the point you get the point no it's not only works but works can be a factor in fact they can't maybe maybe be affected they are a factor all right now we must understand that we are saved by grace this is where protestants get it right father you are saved by grace what are you talking about all this other stuff i know we are i never said we weren't it all begins with god's grace none of us merits anything what happens is we are saved by grace through the instruments of faith and obedience you get that it's like by god's grace you've been given much and now you have to cooperate with it in other words we are saved by grace but we must cooperate with that grace god's going to show our grace upon you to get to eternal life but you have a choice to say yes or no to that grace if if our non-catholics were right that that means everybody would be saved because jesus died for everybody and gave everybody the grace of redemption well that would mean everybody's saved it's not even they don't believe everybody's saved and so this is important now keeping the commandments is an instrument through which the grace of god flows and keeps us in christ all right paul said if we are not in christ even outwardly our outward righteous deeds will never merit eternal life in other words i could do all the good in the world but if i'm not in christ they don't matter this is what you commonly hear and i hear it from my own family well he doesn't believe in god he doesn't go to church he's living a homosexual lifestyle but he's such a good person he will get to heaven rejected the church of which he was baptized he rejects his faith he never goes to church he never receives the sacraments he never accepts that grace god gives them he lives a lifestyle completely against god's law but he was a good person that's great but that's not enough to save you so merit all the good in the world so that's why we catholics are trying to explain that we are not saying we are saved alone by grace i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry that we are not saved alone by works we cannot say that but they are necessary to live to cooperate with the grace god gives does this make sense i don't know if i'm explaining this well i'm it's been crazy the i tried to find my car i got up this morning and they brought me back from the airport my car was gone i came flying out i said brother mark we need to get this all set up we need to get ready and i came out my car's gone couldn't find the car so i'm racing around between the houses and then it was parked somewhere off on the property and the doors are locked and they're no keys to be found like where did they take the keys so this is the kind of morning i'm trying to explain i'm hoping this is making sense okay so the powerful thing is here is the law in other words the law whether old testament law or new testament cannot save us apart from the grace of christ that's what we mean by you are not saved by works of the law but works of love that's what does bring us in union with christ because when we are do it out of love we're imitating christ but saint paul is not eliminating works as necessary for salvation he's not eliminating it he says yes you need faith in in in this is important but he's not eliminating works he eliminated works of the law but he's saying he points out what the catholic church has taught for 2000 years there is nothing anyone can do before you enter into the body of christ that can justify you you could do all the good works in the world you could cure cancer you could you could you could open up the biggest soup kitchen in the world and feed everybody but if you're doing that outside of jesus christ it's all for naught it's maybe not for naught in the sense that you win an award in some secular dinner and that's good you're helping people but if you do it apart from jesus christ it has no merit so our works are important but they have to be united with christ once a person enters into christ we need to follow him as a disciple not doing whatever we want rejecting the faith rejecting the church living a a sinful lifestyle and saying but i'm a good person it's not and so faith alone is that true or not james 24 you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone so are we justified by faith let's go to that let's just talk faith now are we justified by faith yes but by faith alone no very important we need both faith and works all right matthew 19 16 um says jesus said to the rich man if you want to enter eternal life keep the commandments keep the commandments let's go to our next slide matthew 12 36 all right on that day on the day of judgment now this one that scared the daylights out of me everybody you know you get certain passages in the bible some you're like ah okay that's nice and you get others like well you know okay but then you get other passages that say oh boy that scares the daylights out of me and it's not meant to be god being an ogre it's to wake us up jesus says on the day of judgment you will render an account for every careless word you have ever spoken for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned eek we have to watch ourselves this is important this sounds like there is more to justification than faith alone word deed in prayer all right we can do this though remember um is the philemon 4 13 i can do all things through christ who strengthens me it might be the philippians i can do all things in christ who strengthens me now we can't earn our salvation that is not the teaching of the catholic church even though we're told all the time it is it's god's grace which justifies sanctifies and saves us not us but paul's words show that if you're going to be saved you need to be righteous and righteous includes not just the desire to be righteous not just saying i'm righteous but actively working toward being righteous putting your practice or putting your words into practice you ever hear walk the walk talk to talk i know some a lot of people sometimes i'm the same way i could talk to talk but when it comes to walk the walk it's different that's how we're looked at this is the second half of what it takes to be justified justification and a lot of times non-catholics miss it james 2 17 makes it very clear faith of itself if it does not have work is dead james 2 17. now non-catholics often misunderstand the catholic teaching on merit and i'm almost done with this i want to get into the the works of mercy thinking that we believe that we must do good works to come to god to be saved oh you think you've got to donate to the soup kitchen to get to heaven you're buying your way into heaven we don't teach that in fact we teach the opposite only christ merits under his grace then we come to live in christ then we naturally do good this is important all right at the beginning of being a christian god forgives your sins and gives you the gift of righteousness but it doesn't end there all right he's not done with you remember that well god loves me just the way i am yes he does but he loves you too much to let you stay that way well father i'm not going to church i don't pray i don't go to the sacraments and i'm living with somebody who's not my spouse but god loves me just the way i am yeah but he loves you too much to let you stay that way he wants us to grow in righteousness as our life goes on this is what the catholic church teaches catholic theology refers to this growth in righteousness as justification you've probably heard the terms never really thought about the difference they're different all right we teach that we grow in righteousness and that is growth in righteousness is justification in the catholic language justification isn't something that happens just at the beginning of the christian life it continues remember the bible says i work out my my salvation with fear in in trembling daily salvation is not a one and done it's worked out you're con you're you're you're your salvation is worked out daily and what you choose or not choose it happens over the course of your entire life it's not once saved always saved this intellectual faith will not save us well i believe in god i'm going to heaven well the demons believe in god the demons know god exists that intellectual faith which is just i believe in god is not enough to save us did it save the demons no the demons all believe in god but they are not saved if one has faith with love than one has as galatians 5 6 tells us saint paul faith working through love that's what you've got to have all right so to wrap up this part how did deeds relate to this works of mercy devotion all right we are saved this is important yes we are saved only by god's grace but we have to cooperate with that grace as we said without deeds of mercy our devotion is not real i can't tell you that i love you without showing you i love you not everyone as i said who says lord lord we'll get into the kingdom of god we talked about this for christ will not only reveal the mercy of god to us and give you mercy but at the same time he places before you the demand that you live mercy you want mercy then you got to live it the measure that will be measured out to you is the measure by which you measure so in other words the measure by which you measure is the measure that will be measured out to you how much mercy you get is how much mercy you give john paul 2 states that this requirement constitutes the very heart of the gospel in his rich and mercy encyclical he said it is the commandment of love and the promise to blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy all right this is confirmed in our lord's words the saint faustina now we're getting into the good stuff saint faustina the works of mercy and examples all right let's read what james jesus said to saint faustina i demand from you deeds of mercy notice he said i'm not asking he says i demand from you deeds of mercy you are yes are we okay brother mark yeah yeah i demand i'm sorry we're still trying to work out technical difficulties the slide is number seven i demand from you deeds of mercy you are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere you must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself from it even the strongest faith is no avail without works i am giving you three ways of exercising mercy towards your neighbor by word by deed and by prayer this is jesus's exact words so if you here's how you can live mercy you can say something nice about somebody but if you can't do that at least do something well let me start over probably the most powerful is doing something nice for somebody well father i'm bedridden i'm quarantined i can't do something nice for anybody well then say something nice about somebody gee father i can't even get my mouth to utter the words of that person then you can pray for him word deed and prayer or deed word and prayer you can do it dr stackpole who works with us said since all of us continue to receive god's blessings of mercy consolation and healing we cannot be indifferent towards our material and spiritually impoverished brothers and sisters in other words we were taken care of we take care of others this is not communism all right now we'll get into that later the lord demands that we perform these works of mercy today we'll talk about corporate next week or two weeks from now spiritual because next week is the miriam apparition now here's the thing love of god who loved us first and who showed us this infinite love by dying for us while we were still sinners has to be the sole motive for all of your actions towards others do you hear that all right basically god is giving you so much if you're gonna do good it has to be out of love of god or those good acts don't have any value they might have value that you did something on a secular natural level but not in the supernatural in the supernatural they're based on god all right this is very important the lord demands that we perform both these works of mercy corporal and spiritual all right that's why desiring to do god's will faustina did everything on behalf of others she basically said if i do it unto them i do it unto you god because didn't jesus say for the least of my brethren what you did for them you did for me what you didn't do for them you didn't do for me so we are called to the heart to be the heart the hands and the feet of jesus in a troubling world okay when i told you that story about giving that lady that sixty dollars yesterday i wanted to get to this point in the talk to say that wasn't me who gave her the money that's not my money that was from you you are becoming the hands and the feet of jesus because you support our ministry that 60 that i handed that woman wasn't from me i didn't earn that money i'm not on a payroll at some business you did and you sent that money that was the money that i gave her so i'm not taking credit for that i'm simply a steward but now you are living mercy by the fact that you gave us the opportunity to be the hands and feet of christ so if you are an able you're stuck in your house you can't get out you're still the hands and feet of jesus this is beautiful how the way the body of christ works and so this is it this is the troubling and hurting world that needs it you know saint therese never left her convent saint teresa lazu but she was the patron saint of missions she never left her convent she never traveled but she's the patron state of missions you too could be the hands and feet of jesus by supporting this ministry even though you're not able to go out to africa like we are or india or here in the united states it's like the rays of divine mercy be that shining light to radiate out in positive ways now here's something very interesting there's i'm going to read you a passage of saint faustina you've probably never heard and yet it's one of the most powerful let's make this prayer of saint faustina found in diary 163 this diary passage is almost never heard it's almost never i've never seen it in print i've never seen it well i mean in her diary i've never seen it in anybody's talk i've heard thousands of quotes from saint faustina's diaries we all know the standard ones i've seen thousands of quotes in print in other books i've never read this one and this is one of the most powerful quotes saint faustina ever gave diary 163 may the greatest of all divine attributes that of your unfathomable mercy pass through my heart to the soul of my neighbor here's her prayer we should pray this maybe once a week here's her prayer diary 163 help me o lord that my eyes may be merciful so that i may never suspect or judge from appearances but look for what is beautiful in my neighbor's souls and come to their rescue help me o lord that my ears may be merciful so that i may give heed to my neighbors needs and not be indifferent to their pains and cries and moanings help me o lord that my tongue may be merciful so that i should never speak negatively of my neighbor but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all help me o lord that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds so that i may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks me o lord that my feet may be merciful so that i may hurry to assist my neighbor overcoming my own fatigue and weariness my true rest is in the service of my neighbor help me o lord that my heart may be merciful so that i myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor i will refuse my heart to no one i will be sincere even with those who i know will abuse my kindness whoa and i will lock myself up in the most merciful heart of jesus i will bear my own suffering in silence may your mercy o lord rest upon me you yourself command me to exercise the three degrees of mercy the first the act of mercy of whatever the first act of mercy so deed the first the act of mercy the deed of whatever kind the second the word of mercy if i cannot carry out a work of mercy i shall assist by my words the third prayer if i cannot show mercy by deeds or words i can always do so by prayer my prayer reaches out even th my reaches out even there were i cannot reach out physically my jesus transform me into yourself for you can do all things wow i've never read that quote of saint faustina anywhere else but her diary don't let that quote go away let's look then at these corporal works of mercy let's look at our next slide the corporal works of mercy and here i'm going to draw from two good guys dropper robert stackpole and chris sparks who put a lot together on this so what are they feed the hungry give drink to the thirsty shelter the homeless clothe the naked comfort the sick visit the imprisoned and bury the dead these are powerful all right no we'll do the spiritual works of mercy in a couple of weeks now centered on the heart of jesus whose love pours into our hearts this is important here through prayer and the eucharist we are to let his love flow through our hearts then to those in needs so here's the thing everybody mercy comes from jesus's heart into our heart from our heart to our neighbor's heart that's how we save the world if it's not done with that in mind it's worthless that grace and everything comes from jesus's heart that's where it starts then it comes to my heart don't let it die there don't sit there on it on the treasure in the field and bury it the bible warns us don't bury your treasure give your time treasure and talent that's putting it into the heart of your neighbor this is what we have to understand so mother teresa of calcutta used to say that there are two kinds of real presence you know we talk about real presence in the eucharist she said there's two kinds there's the lord in the blessed sacrament and then there's the real presence in the poor material and spiritual poor she said living on the bread of life we receive our savior's merciful love so it comes from jesus we receive it and in sharing our bread with the hungry we return that love back we return that love back to god you did it to me jesus says you do it to the least of my brethren you did it to me this is how we see it that's why the sisters of charity mother teresa's community are committed to loving the poor who they call jesus in disguise don't ever think that some poor person who walks up to you in the parking lot may not be jesus himself jesus can do that st faustina had a a poor beggar show up at the door one day she invited him in and made him some soup he was ragtag and she's there getting him food and she turns around and she looks at him and all of a sudden she saw jesus that's who was there it was jesus do we want to turn them away no and so this is very powerful all right the sisters saw the lord as truly present in all who suffer so right now i want to take a quick break to show you a video and a break for those who here we're halfway done to be able to show you what the works of mercy are this is a great little three-minute video clip but it really nails it i felt on what the works of mercy are all about let's watch it works of mercy are far more than just good works they are the imitation of god's mercy just as we are the object of god's mercy we are called to become instruments of mercy for others mercy for the lord is always concrete jesus healed the sick fed the hungry crowds forgave sinners and taught the ways of god among the most famous stories of the gospel are precisely the parables of mercy the good samaritan who helps a wounded man the lost sheep saved by the shepherd [Music] and the prodigal son welcomed home by his father there's also the parable about forgiving as many as seventy times seven times [Music] the church has specified fourteen works of mercy inspired by biblical texts and the words of jesus himself above all those regarding final judgment we will be saved if we act mercifully above all towards the poor with whom jesus identifies for the sake of simplicity they are divided into corporal and spiritual although both dimensions are always united feeding the hungry giving drink to the thirsty clothing the naked these works refer to supplying bodily needs but are also the first sign of recognizing human dignity sheltering the homeless visiting the sick visiting the imprisoned giving means sharing our own material resources but also our time and talent in the past christians were involved in ransoming slaves today there are new forms of slavery from which we must free our brothers and sisters burying the dead for christians the body is a temple of the spirit and should be honored with a dignified burial counseling the doubtful instructing the ignorant admonishing sinners it's not about judging others but about practicing fraternal correction comforting the afflicted forgiving offenses willingly bearing wrongs patiently these three actions are the most divine impossible for us if god didn't give us the strength praying for the living and the dead the deceased also need our prayers that they may be freed from their sins however there are many more than 14 works of mercy in a world which continues to create new forms of spiritual and material poverty we are called to share a new face to works of mercy [Music] okay again everybody thank you that's a great little clip on what the works of mercy are all about and we apologize we're still continuing to have technical difficulties on the youtube side but we'll get this posted for you at a later time later today we're hoping or tomorrow so thank you for your patience now let's start with the very important aspect of these works of mercy now let's go to our next slide because the next or the first work of mercy is feed the hungry so there we go you see on your screen feed the hungry it says feed the hungry so their stomach will have some food okay that's what i tell the lovely ladies at my office but i don't have time to go eat they always give me leftovers and i'm like your work of mercy is to feed the hungry so god bless them but in this essence here we have i was jesus says in matthew 25 35 for i was hungry and you gave me something to eat all right we can help the hungry many ways i'm just going to give you some good examples by making donations you all know this to the local food bank or helping a local soup kitchen for the homeless we can take the time however people don't think about this to educate ourselves about hunger in the world and we can use our voices and especially your vote to pressure politicians to make the fight against world hunger a priority now there's a great charity called hot dogs for the homeless and this is a guy in texas who feeds the homeless brings hot dogs to them and let me show you the next slide that's it's up on the screen it's called hot dogs for the homeless that's a little symbol there on your screen i want to just read you a paragraph of what this guy rick swiden who started hot dogs for the homeless in texas said i'm just going to read you what he said this is very powerful it's an example of feed the hungry he said one day i was watching dr phil he was helping someone with depression i thought this is very interesting because at one time or another we've all had depression and he said the best way to deal with depression is to do something for someone in need i never thought about that that's how god works you'll be healed through the care of another he said the best way to deal with depression is to do something for someone in need and he said well i never considered myself as depressed i was inspired to look beyond my own problems and to channel my stress by helping others based on what dr phil said one day while i was out walking with my wife we passed a homeless man he was in absolutely horrible condition his fingernails were long and caked with grime his skin was cracked and almost black from dirt his mustache covered his lip by over an inch and was caked with food particles and with what looked like a continuous runny nose this man was in the worst physical condition of any man i had ever met in my life i sat down to talk to him and saw underneath this grease and grime and long hair he had the most beautiful eyes eyes that pierced my soul we spoke for about 10 minutes he never asked for anything he didn't ask for any food he didn't ask for any money i then went to the food court when we placed an order for a hamburger the man at the counter said i'm sorry sir but all we serve here are hot dogs it was like a lightning bolt from heaven god's way of telling me you are going to feed this man but you're going to feed this homeless man with a hot dog by the time i got back to the place where i had met the homeless man he was gone i walked all over looking for him but i couldn't find him with hot dog fries and a root beer in hand i was determined to feed a homeless person a hot dog that day i eventually did and it was the moment that hot dogs for the homeless was born it's a great great group and charity i can't tell you why but when i got back to my room i started crying uncontrollably for about an hour it was the most emotional moment i ever felt in my life both painful and joyful at the same time i knew my life would never be the same mother teresa once said i have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever have i've learned after three years of feeding the homeless rick said that it's not just the hot dog that's important but that someone takes the time to show an interest in me that someone takes the time to simply care about you and ask how was your day wow that's a great story and a good example feed the hungry what about the next slide give drink to the thirsty most people say okay father go buy me a drink in fact this is funny father mark baron and i were downtown chicago yesterday and we were doing some filming trying to talk to people about jesus down at this la la palooza draws like a million people for a bunch of rock concerts so here father mark and i are down there in collars and trying to talk to people about jesus and there's a homeless man and father mike mark said would you like something to eat he says actually i really need something to drink father mark said well i'm not gonna buy you alcohol he says no could you buy me a mountain dew [Laughter] that's all this poor man wanted and so jesus says i was thirsty and you gave me drink matthew 25 35. nearly a nearly a billion people lack access to fresh safe water today now this is staggering to me more than three and a half million people a year die from water related diseases every 21 seconds a child in the world dies of such disease now listen to this nearly one-fifth of all childhood deaths are caused by diarrhea can you imagine a fifth of the children in the world that die from these types of disease or illness die from diarrhea which kills more children than aids tuberculosis and malaria combined that's on water.org website we live in a world that is thirsty both physically and spiritually so what can we do all right next two weeks from now we'll talk about the spiritual today we're going to talk about the physical giving drink to the thirsty can be forming in the form of making a monetary contribution to the marians because we support that work in our missions or to other great groups you can give your time or to donate food and water to the local food bank soup kitchens or other initiatives that bring food and drink to the poor yes in our own homes people don't think of this we can make contributions to the effort by preserving water i mean i've been sometimes at friends houses and they'll turn the shower on for like a half an hour before they get into it just to make sure it's hot like what that's crazy and then other people i know i mean for me the shower you got too many other things to do in the day you jump in you lather up you lather up your hair you rinse off and you get out i can never understand this our shower thing sorry i don't mean to offend anybody but something to think about now preserve this clean fresh water for example use environmental friendly laundry detergents and less watering of our lawns just something to keep thinking giving drink to the thirsty can also be done by voting you'll always hear me say that for example supporting clean water policies to make sure that there are clean water for the future look at our next slide this is a good friend of mine out of florida named nermeen rubin she runs water for mercy in africa the goal is to bring this woman has a heart of gold good friend of mine and she brings water for mercy and you can go to our website water the number four mercy.org her goal is to get people to give and so that the hands and feet of the people in africa can drill wells and get fresh water for the people you know you can go for weeks without food you can barely go a few days without water very important let's look at our next slide this is brian thatcher one of our apostolate groups this is eadm the eucharistic apostles of divine mercy an apostolate of the marian father so we know them well he has done remarkable work in bringing fresh water to areas of the world suffering without it and he and his group have done tons to bring fresh water and and things to the people so we see it even within our own marian family beautiful so when you support us you're supporting that kind of work it's great or support them directly you can google eucharistic apostles of divine mercy or if you if you send it to us and say hey i want this to go to brian thatcher we'll get it to him god bless you all right what's our next one clothe the naked this is what jesus listed as we read that whole thing jesus said in matthew 25 i was naked and you clothed me jesus matthew 25 again 35 36 you can always go to your closets and find garments you don't wear that you can donate but if you really want to be almsgiving what's almsgiving we always hear prayer fasting and almsgiving almsgiving is not just taking an extra five dollar bill that's out of surplus in your wallet and throwing it in the church basket almsgiving is taking money from something you were gonna buy for yourself so for me if it was i was in secular life it would be like okay i can't wait to go buy a new fishing rod real super good fishing rod cost about 80 bucks and i want to go buy a really nice fishing rod almsgiving is saying uh you know what i'm going to take that 80 i'm going to buy some water or some clothing or some food for those who are in need that's true almsgiving by selling your items to raise money for these good causes that's what it's about those of you who are working hard each day to earn money to provide your family for food and drink you're doing this father i can't do these works of mercy i got my family to take care of that is a work of mercy taking care of your own family providing food and drink clothing and shelter for your own family are those those things that your family needs even cooking and cleaning at home you're practicing the corporal works of mercy at least outwardly do them in christ they become deeper now practice them not only outwardly don't just kick that meal and throw it on the family table and then disappear you're doing it outwardly but do it inwardly take joy in it in the name of jesus i'm providing for my family why not practice it inwardly from the heart not grudgingly but merely out of and not out of just routine but out of love of jesus jesus you you entrusted these people to me you entrusted my spouse to me my children to me i want to provide for them out of your will now those works of mercy you're doing every night when you cook to dinner and you think it's a pain or you grumble or you despise it or you have to go grocery shopping or run errands or iron the clothes or do the laundry now they become works of mercy and now they become redemptive for you and salvific for you as a ticket to heaven not because the works save you but because you're doing it in jesus so you have two choices you can do the same exact work and one has no value and the other has all kinds of value you go through the motions you disdain it you hate it you can't wait to be done with it you don't like it and you don't do it through jesus it has no value you all of a sudden say all right jesus i don't feel like cooking dinner tonight but i'm gonna do it because i love you and you entrusted this family for me or to me i'm going to do it now out of love for you it now becomes meritorious that's what catholics mean by good works now you become sanctified in love because you're doing what jesus did you fed the hunger you gave drink to the thirsty you comforted the sick you visited them and so this is what people don't understand now we can do this with compassion and love all for the glory of god mother teresa says it's not about successes or failures but about being faithful in the little daily things just like i described helping your children with their homework providing in this way st paul wrote the simplest daily chores becomes quote this is romans 12 1 a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god a true spiritual worship wow as the bells ring it's beautiful the lord's confirming it all right let's go to our next one shelter the homeless let's look at shelter the homeless jesus says i was a stranger and you welcomed me matthew 25 35. what can we do to provide shelter to the homeless nowadays we're all afraid and there's some truth you have to protect your family this is true but you can start with family members members of our own family if we have an aging or ill family member we can welcome them come to the aid of other families driven from their homes by providing your donation to us marine fathers helped this poor lady last night at the airport who had no place to go and no money for a hotel look into helping for instance like habitat for humanity they have volunteers that do building of homes for the poor and underprivileged good things donate your time and money to covenant house it's another great one provides food and shelter for troubled young people in cities throughout north and latin america all right we're getting close everybody god bless you you're hanging in there we can also practice these works of mercy by using our voting i'll say it again the time to support policies is now policies that lead to the creation of jobs especially for the homeless and those in need there is room for disagreeing on how you do it well this politician wants to do it this way this politician wants to do it this way father which one do i go with you can have differing opinions you can have differing opinions there's nothing wrong in church teaching about that the end goal is to help all right there is room for disagreement now our concern though has to be for their plight genuine priority the catechism says this is the catechism now human misery elicited the compassion of jesus himself hence those who are oppressed by poverty are the object or should be the object of preferential love on the part of you and the church catechism 24 48 you know remember our lord himself started his life homeless they had no place nowhere to go he was born in a manger because there was no room in the end and throughout his ministry he had nowhere to lay his head remember jesus said i am the son of man has nowhere to lay his head see how this all ties together all the scripture we must have a special compassion for those who have had to share in this struggle like jesus all right let's go to our next two to go visit those in prison this is a very interesting one jesus said i was in prison and you visited me matthew 26 36 visiting those in prison does not necessarily mean being soft on crime you shouldn't be here this is horrible no maybe they should the some absolutely with some violent criminals society has to lock them away they have no choice to lock them up and throw away the key but here's the thing throw away the key not the person that's how we have to look at prisoners punishment can deter and quarantine somebody yes and maybe it should but friendship and prayer not quarantine and punishment but rather friendship and prayer can reform and heal even leading them to repent you know there's this guy named charles colson he was part of that watergate conspirator very criminal he converted to christianity while he was in prison now there's a lot of people who've fallen under that category father why do you mention him because he now runs a huge prison ministry the guy of watergate this charles colson now runs a huge prison ministry it's beautiful you know a true work of mercy is done by christians who befriend those especially in prisons in the name of jesus christ because you are showing that they have human dignity made in god's image we don't look at them we look at what they did as wrong and needs to be punished but they're still human and they need prayers they are the souls in most jeopardy of hell so they should be the first ones we're praying for you know when you've got a million things i always tell my staff at work they're like father you got to do this you got to read this document you got to sign this contract you got to do this i would say listen give me the fires that are closest to my doorstep that are going to burn my house down those are the ones i got to get to first if there are other ones out in the field i will get to them but right now i gotta fight the fires that are on my doorstep before they burn this house down it's the same with those souls it's awesome that we're praying for souls of our friends and those we know our colleagues and co-workers that is great but maybe it's those souls in prison that are closest speaking of fire to the fires of hell that we need to be praying for and i think this is truly important now a true work of mercy is like i said are the ones as praying for them because they are called we are called to try to help save them they're the ones in most jeopardy let's go back to the eucharistic apostles of divine mercy again brian thatcher his cynicals they sometimes take on the work of visiting those behind bars and they start cynicals with them in prison reading the diary isn't that awesome they actually enable prisoners to study the diary of saint faustina this is the cynicals of of brian thatcher and the eucharistic apostles of divine mercy what a great thing to get involved in and the catechism they even helped learn and teach the prisoners that and they grow in their knowledge and love of the lord they've seen it so in short needy persons on our doorstep are not necessarily the ones that we are not the ones we're supposed to step over remember the lazarus and the in the rich man lazarus laid at his doorstep and the rich man would step over him every day and walk by him and then lazarus was not allowed into heaven another biblical example maybe that person at your doorstep isn't your neighbor maybe it's the prisoner down the street and so this is scriptural and sometimes those are the ones that need our help i'm going to tell you a quick story about a lady that um is on our website named dawn and i want to read you a a comment from her that i thought was powerful these are her words dawn said this year i started sending birthday cards to men in prison and it has been a true blessing for them and for me it is something i've always wanted to do i see the impact of correspondence programs has on them and i thought how beautiful it would be to let them know that they are being thought of on their birthday our birthday is a gift from god and for these men many of them never have ever had a birthday party growing up because of the environment in which they were living many of these men are alone they're experiencing conflict with their family and have low self-esteem many of them have lost friends and family because of the life they've led they've had no one to love them many in there never had a father and i said that in a previous talk that the statistics of men that are in prison for violent crimes is overwhelming didn't have a father she said many of these never had a father i receive immediate responses for men overjoyed sometimes to the point of tears and they are even that that they are even thought of for some it was the only card they have ever received it's important that they understand that they were created for a purpose and that god loves them very much take time to remember in your prayers those who are imprisoned for it is within those walls that god's love and mercy is most needed hmm powerful huh all right comfort the sick let's go to our next i'm sorry we do have two more comfort to sick and bury the dead so comfort to sick is our next one jesus said i was ill and you cared for me matthew 25 36 mother teresa once said that the greatest poverty was not hunger and homeless homelessness that's too bad i said that not homeless homelessness rather the greatest poverty is being unwanted unloved and uncared for so by caring for the sick we can do that we can help do this this kind of poverty by making room in our weekly schedules to visit the sick the homebound those in nursing homes whether they're family friends or strangers i know it's hard now with coronavirus but to comfort the sick means first of all to comfort them with something they urgently need yes medical assistance but also love sadly in the u.s over 40 million people can't afford medical insurance of course they are people who are sick not from physical illness either but from social isolation you know we think especially of the elderly who live and around us but yet are isolated from us man visiting the sick in our world can mean reaching out to the friendly i mean this is people who are struggling the friendless that have nobody you know when i go to the nursing homes a lot of times the the staff now has come to know me and they'll come to me and say father i know this person isn't catholic but would you stop by room 324 that person hasn't had a visitor in 12 years absolutely i don't care if you're a martian if you haven't had a visitor for 12 years this is powerful there are many who are sick at heart not just physically sick being lonely and forgotten and deprived of basic friendship you know volunteer meals for wheels you can deliver to people again i know it's very hard with coronavirus or visiting nursing homes ask your parish priest they usually have a list of sick and infirmed parish members you know those um that that you could direct they could direct you to go to um and visiting them as members of your parish you know it's funny in north carolina before i became a priest i was motivated to go to a place called huntersville oaks and this is back way before coronavirus and north carolina has much easier laws in the northeast pretty much everybody loves each other and just says god bless you bless your heart that was the big thing bless your heart and i got a couple friends up from north carolina here actually and i used to take rocky my big yellow lab to the nursing homes and he loved it because he'd catch all the scraps that would fall to the floor from the people if they were eating but the people loved him and just petting rocky he was the most gentle yellow lab in the world his big old head was like a big old polar bear and they would be petting his head and it just was we didn't have to say a word just allowing them to pet rocky and rocky to sit there with this big smile on his face looking at these people and now we probably can't even do that with this coronavirus and isolation and i remember i was walking through i would go i started by visiting the parishioners from saint mark's huntersville and that's why i would go to this nursing home in huntersville oak but i remember passing through um by a door of some other um patients that i didn't know who they were and i remember seeing this one guy for months as i would walk past him and all he did all day was go in his bed up and down like this and i thought he was must be coherent or incoherent unable to speak or talk and he just would would bounce up and down and i would walk by and i would say a prayer from but i never stopped in well he's not on my list and and you know i don't know who he is and he doesn't seem like he can communicate but i would see him and he would just be going up and down and then one day god put on my heart to go in there and i went in with rocky and he's just going up and down and i and i stopped in his room i wasn't i didn't ask permission i just did it and i said hi my name is chris and he stopped and he turned around half his face was missing and he said my name's terry hello how are you i was like whoa and i started talking to this man you know his story he was 48 years old at that time when he was 19. he's been in that bed since he was 19 he was working for a tree cutting company at 19 years old and they were cutting a massive amount of trees in north carolina after a hurricane and one of the guys was cutting the limbs and the guys were walking around they were always very careful and somebody got crisscrossed or something happened and terry went over where he wasn't supposed to be and a guy cut this giant tree limb and it started to fall and he screamed at terry when he saw terry and terry looked up and that tree went right through him and crushed the whole side of him and he's paralyzed it crushed his spine it went in and he's paralyzed and he's been in that bed since he was 19. and i sat there and i used i was enthralled with this man so every time i would go back to visit the catholic parishioners i would stop to see terry and he would tell me about his life and he told me about everything nobody ever stopped to see him because his natural reaction what i mean by paralyzes from the waist down he couldn't walk and that's why he would just move up and down it was something on his spine or something and nobody ever would talk to him the staff did but nobody else nobody figured he could even talk what an amazing man that nobody knew and so our works like that can actually open up doors of mercy and grace like we we can't imagine and so on my next trip back to north carolina i want to go there and see if he's still there because that's the kind of person that ever affects the changing of your heart or can forever affect your heart so beautiful all right so to say this such people often live in squalor constant stench of sickness or chronic pain but we can help them to offer up their sufferings we can help them to see the value and meaning of their existence our mere presence just being there listening can mean more to them than we can ever imagine and along the way we're given the gift we grow in virtue we're given an incredible gift we help we are helped more than that person that we feed or visit they help us to grow in virtue to work mercy to be saved helping those in need is more helpful for us god is giving us a chance to be merciful all right lastly you've been great the last one bury the dead now that one's confusing for some people let's look at the slide bury the dead people like well of course we're going to bury the dead father we don't want to put him in our closet we're not going to do that we're going to bury the dead all right no doubt most of you will make sure your relatives and friends have a proper burial that's a work of mercy to ensure that they have prayers and graces to prepare them for heaven make sure you have a catholic mass for your catholic deceased very important but be aware of the needs of those who are grieving too not just those who have died but to bury the dead means emotionally help those who can't let go of somebody they lost that's what they meant help bury the dead this is what jesus says grieving can be a very long and hard process shedding many tears we need to help them to truly bury their lost loved ones by finally letting go commending them to the mercy of god and trusting in the hands of christ the savior that takes friendship that keeps on [Music] keeping on visit them bereave with them help them dry their tears this is a precious work of mercy to help one emotionally bury the dead by entrusting them finally to the mercy of god their loved ones the most important aspect of this work of mercy is holy souls you know this is big our ability to help release from purgatory those who can't help themselves having masses said for them offering personal prayers and sacrifices for them huge the holy souls cry out in their suffering we are the only ones that can help them not even the saints in heaven can fully help them or else purgatory would be empty it's up to us for our help they ask to undergo purification our founder saint stanislaus papinski said the greatest act of charity you could ever do is pray for the holy souls because they can't help themselves wow he says pray them to god for their freedom now how do you do that contact your parish priest have masses said for them you can call us marian fathers we do masses you can have masses set for your dead faithful departed arrange for this our association miriam helpers we make the commitment to bury the dead meaning we pray for them so they're ready for heaven with all the the graces of the church thus you can enroll your deceased loved ones they can be members of the association as as deceased believe it or not that means they still share in the graces that's huge give us a call and it's easy to remember 1-800 the number four marion m-a-r-i-a-n all right so we're wrapping up now when we come to the holy eucharist we are actually closest to the faithful departed why because whether they're in purgatory or in heaven they're close to jesus and it is uniquely present to jesus and he's close to us through the eucharist so when we take the eucharist we're closest to the dead and to help bury the dead is to help give them the graces to rest at peace what do we say when somebody dies rest in peace the only way you're going to rest in peace is have to grace is to get to heaven you want to bury the dead have them rest in peace pray for them to give them the graces to get to heaven holy communion can help us do that we can make every holy communion a time of prayer for your faithful departed and the graces that they need now we can't do all these examples i just gave you we can't do them all pick two or three that's how you be a disciple open your eyes in your hearts to serve god's children and your neighbor it's not a recommendation it's a duty even if you can't do any of these things because you're bedridden yourself offer your suffering say a prayer offer a kind word you can always pray for those who are doing works of mercy and that's a work of mercy you can always support those doing a work of mercy we marian fathers are doing works of mercy vietnam and india europe the united states africa so when you support ours us you're supporting that work that's a work of mercy yourself pray for those in prison in that ministry help them needs for the needs that they are giving or those who are work with single mothers most of all pray for those struggling to give food clothing shelter and care for their own family this is you too that's why i pray for you powerful stuff whether by deed word or prayer it's always possible to do a corporal work of mercy and jesus says it's mandatory god bless you all thank you so much for joining us i apologize for all of the technical difficulties and we want to finish with a way that you can actively learn and help take a look at your screen this is a free pamphlet that you can get called the works of mercy i won't charge you a penny not even shipping you want to learn about the works of mercy and everything i talked about here today and how to live it visit marian.org live mercy and for those of you who are present you can find it on the talk when we get it posted again marion.org live mercy i'll send it for free no cost no shipping send it for free now the next slide is my book that talks a lot about being merciful you've seen this before any donation father i only got a dollar fine dollar's great go towards our ministry you can get that as well at the dividedmercy.org udm for understanding divine mercy or call that same 800 number for mary marion 462-7426 all right and finally i have two last announcements coming up next week on saturday we are gonna do something very special we're gonna move our first saturday's talks to 11 o'clock well i'm sorry not move them keep them at 11 o'clock but i'm going to do a short talk less than half of what i did today at 11 o'clock every first saturday i'm going to talk about a marian apparition approved starting from the very first one going all the way to today so we're going to pick a mirroring apparition each for saturday i'm going to tell you about it so i'm going to talk to you about la salette i'm going to talk to you about akita all these miriam apparitions one at a time every first saturday then stay with us because i'll do a short talk but then at 11 45 i want to come back and we're going to do the first saturday devotion and it's open to all of you and the public so you can join us and so look at the screen at 11 o'clock is the miriam apparition talk this is first saturday and at 11 45 is the first saturday devotion all right now you want to change the world i just mentioned it with that pamphlet i've invited you for the last week to join me in daily doing a work of mercy every day do a little work of mercy do something nice for somebody simple as holding a door share with us what it is tell us what it is i shared with you my airport experience and so this was because of you you made it possible that i could help that woman now share a little with us you don't have to just do it internally you don't have to sign up for anything or write anything or register anywhere just do it in your heart do something nice for somebody every day do one act of mercy if you god you find yourself going to bed at night you say gee i didn't do anything nice say a prayer deed word or prayer it's midnight i'm going to bed and i live alone i can't do anything now you can say a prayer you can offer up a suffering that's a work of mercy and so change the world let's look at our next slide act of mercy each day and then on fridays do an act of penance it can be something as small as not salting your food or skipping dessert could be something as big as fasting or abstaining from meat which we're supposed to do anyway but if you don't do that you can substitute it with something else the church says and finally a good resource if you'd like to get all this is father mike gately's book you did it to me which you can see on your screen at shopmercy.org has some great ideas on how to live divine mercy yes that book is an opportunity to see it in action so god bless all of you i won't bother having mark show anything at the end of this video because there's so much already in it but we appreciate you coming we appreciate you being with us and let us live mercy not live moss live live mercy i should say yes live mars but live mercy because this is what god commands us to do and may almighty god bless you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen you

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Id: 066I0Q_DQvw

Length: 86min 4sec (5164 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 31 2021