Franciscan University Presents: Mercy in Action

Pope Francis has declared this a year of mercy what does this mean for us what does it ask of us join us today as we talk about the nature of mercy and how we show it to others with our special guest father Michael Gately the author of you did it to me a practical guide to mercy in action I'm Michael Hernon vice president of advancement at Franciscan University in Steubenville Ohio and you're watching Franciscan University presents stay with us welcome to Franciscan University presents today we'll be talking about mercy in this wonderful year of mercy I'm your host Michael Hernon vice president of advancement here at Franciscan University in Steubenville Ohio and I'm Jordan our studios here by a regular panelist dr. regis martin professor of systematic theology here at Franciscan University and dr. Scott Hahn who holds the father Michael Scanlon chair in biblical theology and the New Evangelization and we are also so proud to welcome back an alumnus father Michael Gately priest of the Marian the Marian's of the Immaculate Conception you're currently the director of evangelization for the Marian Fathers you often give lectures retreats on mercy and Marian consecration you've written a number of books which we've all consumed very very quickly but the topic of today's book is you did it to me a practical guide to mercy in action so welcome back father Michael thank you very much it's good to be back again well so we're in a year of mercy and so let's start with a foundation very simple question for you what is mercy sure mercy you know there's a lot of different definitions of it but pope john paul ii described mercy as love second name and in his encyclical letter on mercy divas Misericordia and then he goes on to talk about how mercy is a kind of particular form of love when it encounters poverty weakness brokenness and sin Pope Benedict talks about mercy as the central nucleus of the gospel the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that mercy is the gospel it's the good news of God's mercy for sinners and what we learn from sabres Sacred Scripture for instance that end up a good Samaritan it's a two movements you know in the story of the Good Samaritan it's a movement of the heart it's first being moved to compassion seeing the suffering of others and having your heart move but it's not enough just to have your heart go out to someone who's suffering there also has to be action like the Good Samaritan acted and he did something to help alleviate suffering so I say you know kind of in a nutshell then with all of that together I would say mercy is really heart and arms it's the the movement of the heart not having a hard heart and heart but a heart that moves is moved by commit passion for those who are suffering and then takes action to help alleviate the suffering and to provide assistance and you've really already defined it probably but you know is it worth looking at what mercy is not you know what what what did we yeah I mean it was interesting I I was I once went to the first world Apostolic Congress on divine mercy these the big congress's they have in Rome in different places throughout the world where Cardinals and bishops come together and I remember I went to the first one and there was a talking that just something in the talk blew me away Cardinal Christophe Sean born in the editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church he said he described he said you know the greatest sin against God and man is hardness of heart he said hardness of heart is the opposite of mercy when I just was sharing about how mercy is those two movements it's the heart and arms mercy doesn't even get off the ground unless our hearts are moved well if we have hardness of heart then there is no mercy yeah there's a technical theological term for that it's called obduracy and it represents a lack of any tenderness any movement of the heart of pathos for the suffering of another and once you fall into that state it's very difficult to pull back difficult for God to reach you and it's ironic because those are the ones who most need mercy it's interesting the reason why it struck me so much when the Cardinal said that as I suddenly looked into my own heart and I said I've got something that hardened my heart yeah and you know because I I was thinking and you know I there's been a lot of trials and difficulties the previous five years and sometimes when were when we're sinned against our own sins our heart started to harden and and I remember thinking to myself how do I solve this light and I just cried out for mercy I said lord please heal my heart but it's really had it's only grace only grace in fact that's what Cardinal Sean were and said only the the grace of God only the mercy of God can open up a breach in our hardened hearts only he can do it because it's a miracle of you know that we need new hearts that that distinction you drew between love and mercy I think is very useful because love is something you can easily sentimentalize you can cheapen it debates it but mercy you have a tougher time a sort of debasing that and it's love in action it's it's not soft soap or a sentimentality its sacrificial it's also not leniency in other words God shows mercy this is just like well boys will be boys I'll turn a blind eye you know I think a lot of people approach divine mercy as though God is just simply tolerating things you know but in fact our misery is what evokes that compassion from God he reaches down and raises us up but he doesn't stop by raising us up he empowers us to kind of look at other people who or who were alongside of us and to reach out you know the the Hebrew term has said is one of the most untranslatable words in there in the Old Testament and frequently gets translated as mercy because Hess said is really the content of the Covenant and that's what makes it so untranslatable because when you're looking at covent in terms of sacred kinship you know then what obligations do you have towards your spouse you know towards your kids towards your siblings and it's so variegated it's so diverse and yet the common core is that family love well family can be a closed circle you know it's our home our household you know not outsiders but has set mercy is sort of what transforms family into an open circle so that suddenly you realize that God has had compassion upon me this prodigal son this runaway you know this rebel and so it's what evokes that sort of desire to show because you know when you look at the Corporal and spiritual works of mercy it's basically a parental job description you know clothing the naked feeding the hungry you know it's what parents are doing that nobody notices but it's noticed when suddenly you begin doing it to people who are not in your inner Family Circle and that's what God the Father does through the son he reaches down and finds the most miserable sinners like me and then draws us into his family yeah yeah you know there's a revealing passage of in in mother Teresa where she says it's not enough to say God loves you that doesn't really carry the freight he is thirsting for you and that's a gesture of mercy that's that's when love gets parlayed into action it's not just an abstraction it's not just a feeling it's work yeah yeah maybe you could just unpack a little bit you talk in the book about the three degrees of mercy what are they well why is that important you know the three degrees of mercy comes from the writings of st. Faustina Kowalska and her diary and st. Faustina was a mystic she died last century and the Lord said to her I want to he said I'm gonna give you three ways of exercising mercy towards your neighbor in three degrees the first degree is indeed the second degree is inward and the third degree is through prayer he says in these three degrees is that is the fullness of Mercy know Faustina then later reflected on that and said you know that those degrees really represent that first to try and do a deed of mercy that is to actively alleviate try to act take action to alleviate the suffering of others having your after your hearts been moved but if you can't do a deed of mercy it word of mercy a word of encouragement say something to something that will lift them up alleviate their suffering if you can't do a deed if you can't speak a word of mercy then there's always prayer now it doesn't mean prayer is always the last place but it's if it's within our power to do a deed of mercy or speak a word of mercy we do that first you know I just had an example one of unfortunately one of the one of the the guys in my community older brother passed away a couple days ago and one of the brothers is very close to him and I saw him in the hallway and I I didn't want to say anything I just went in the chapel and I was praying for the repose of the soul of his brother Fred and I came back out and he was there again and I thought it was it was much easier to go into the chapel to pray then when I saw him and I thought oh and I just went up to him because I knew he was grieving and sometimes you want to you know avoid people were yeah and I went up to him I night and I said I said John I'm very sorry for that for your loss and I'm gonna be praying for you it was just that little actually you could see his face just kind of relieved that's really what is meant by the three degrees of Mercy that we always pray prayer beautiful because it can reach even where if we can't do deeds but if it's within our power to do a deed of mercy or word of mercy that's what the Lord wants us to do above all I just think it's amazing that you have a saint in the church a mystic and their first is as action you know that that too quickly we just say oh well Oh pray for the world but she's saying first let's go and serve those closest to us let's use the word as well as pray never never undermining by any means were belittling prayer but that it's about out there it's giving of ourselves and what's important to remember you know that the Saints in the Mystics and these things all of this is pointing us back to Sacred Scripture right it's not like this is a new revelation the heart of it is though is it really comes from the words of our Lord Matthew 25 which is based on the title of the book is you know where the Lord says you did it to me like if you if you clothe the hungry feed that their Lord when did we why don't we see you hungry or thirsty or naked or or in prison whatever you did to the least of mine you did you did it to me hmm whatever you didn't do you didn't do to me right that's right and that's that is I mean that to me that's my favorite one of my favorite passages and also my my least favorite passage of all Terry convicted as it tells us you know somebody's there's all this speculation what's gonna happen the end of the world we know what's going to happen there's the Lord is going to be there and he's going to say either you did it to me and that will be the one most wonderful words that we ever hear any said enter the joy of your father or I'll say you did not do it to me right and when we depart from him write it so deeds God demands deeds of mercy it's because Jesus is himself mercy through and through right down to the bottom of his toes that he can identify so completely with those who suffer of that solidarity that note is struck we certainly see it in the case of of Paul you know I didn't even know you Jesus and yet here I am persecuting you or my favorite story it's so charming Martin of tour you know the the the pagan who became a Christian and as a Roman soldier rides into a village in the dead of winter and there's a guy without a cloak instinctively he cuts his cloak in half shares it with this beggar and that night in a dream Jesus appears to him I mean he's stupefied by this I didn't know you were Jesus but he identified that completely with the baker no this is sort of like the flipside of what Saul discovered on the road to Damascus Saul Saul why do you persecute not my followers but me I mean that radical identification that Jesus makes with each of us and those who are around us that we might not even notice it's not just a kind of moral solidarity it is a sacramental bond its sacramental consanguinity it is a family bond of divine kinship that we so easily miss you know until we look in the mirror and realize wait that's my only hope and so I've got to share this what I like about your book is that you give practical steps you also show how it can be done in little ways you know like giving up soft drinks that one example or the little boy five loaves and two fish it's enough Jesus can multiply the lowly feed the 5,000 with whatever we do give you know that's encouraging that that's really a striking feature I think of mercy it's not spectacular or dramatic it's it's modest and small little gestures like going out and sort of embracing that grieving brother and and letting him know that you're really sorry that you're gonna pray for him that that wasn't that's not cheap grace that can be costly so when when the church has traditionally talked about mercy in action it's talked about the spiritual and the corporal works of mercy you also talk about kind of a scriptural you know approach if you will to a list of acts of mercy do you want to distinguish between those two alone yeah there's a scriptural approach of the traditional approach great before I said they're just used to something extraordinary just a thought if I could just reflect on that for a minute so we're talking about the works mercy they're modest they're not they're small things but the amazing thing is it's in these little things really the question of the works of mercy is a question of salvation it's a huge thing like in the little things yeah it's it's that work God demands for his deeds of mercy and that's you know the whole parable of the Good Samaritan it the whole it begins with someone asking the question what do I have to do it for eternal life yeah that the works well the love God love your neighbor who's my neighbor this and do likewise show mercy that it's a small thing but it's a huge thing and in that way it really imitates God I mean the immensity of the love exactly becomes a zygote Jesus there in the Incarnation the eternal God it's it's the small things but they lead to huge things now so to answer a question about the traditional approach and the spiritual approach you know one of the big strategies I think of Pope Francis is and not just Pope Francis but like Pope John Paul the second Pope Benedict the Second Vatican Council it's getting back to the essence of things I think Pope Francis is strategy with the new evangelization and you know his apostolic exhortation about gout gaudium evangelii get tripped up but the idea is it's saying let's get back to the essence of things here yes and so for me and he says you know sometimes there's traditional language and sometimes oh well hard for us a trip says let's just get right to the essence let's not throw away any of that but let's look at the essence and then go back at some of these things and for me the traditional you know 14 categories of the spiritual and the corporal works of mercy they're great it's a great list but I always forget it I mean if you ask me what's the 14 okay I know this this but to just kind of rattle them all off and you know so the traditional approach is the 14 Spirit 14 you know seven corporal seven spiritual but when I what I call the scriptural categories of the works of mercy comes from Matthew 25 and I actually conflate feed the hungry and drink to the thirsty because the Catechism does right but you got five right let's you test it let's see the hungry I gotta remember it I fell into step four okay welcome the stranger state school ninjas the naked stabbed that's sick and those are in prison that's right now it's interesting about that is you got five and I think those fourteen actually fit within the five and so I try to be hope together the reason that's important is for the very reason I remember I was on the plane on the way here I knew we were going to be talking about I gotta I gotta get this in my mind a little bit cuz I got all this office and and that funeral and all these things in my mind I thought okay I didn't have the buck with me it's up in the in the you know the baggage thing I think okay I can't review the book how do I do this oh yeah just remember the five there you go and for the whole flight I was just meditating on those five things it was such a fruitful Meditation Society of keeping it simple but then letting expand to the others not throwing away the others but getting to the essence of it so there's the scriptural which is what we find is see in Matthew 25 yes but it's also what the tradition gives us in the 14 which is also based on Sacred Scripture and I want to expound on that more later if tea with us for the next segment at Franciscan University presents for me the year of mercy is just accepting the mercy and love that God has given us through our Lord Jesus Christ for this year of Mercy our household children of the Lord has decided to go to confession once a week in this confession we learn about God's mercy and forgiveness and it's a really great way for us to understand just how loving our God can be throughout this year I'm in daughters of divine mercy household here on campus and the reason that mercy is so important to me is because through it I really see God's love it's in His mercy that it truly encapsulate scry sacrifice for us on the cross people recognize Franciscan University as being academically excellent and passionately Catholic we have a unique opportunity through our faculty members through our students to proclaim that academic excellence by reaching out in many different ways we also remain passionately Catholic in the way in which we are able to worship the way in which we are able to bring that love of Christ to others on a daily basis it's important for us to be able to embrace both welcome back to Franciscan University presents we've been talking about mercy with father Michael Gately and his his great book here you did it to me a practical guide to mercy in action so father Michael we're in a year of mercy what's its significance what is why did the Pope do this and what does that mean for us as Catholics sure you know I think I think the year of mercy and the mind of Pope Francis is really for two main reasons one I think has to do with evangelization again I think his strategy in Ford the new evangelization is getting back to the essence of things and as Pope Benedict said the central nucleus of the Gospel message is God's mercy for sinners and so I think he wants the church to be reflecting on that central nucleus of the gospel as the proclamation he said you know there's it's not to put anything else aside but there's a hierarchy of truths as he talks about an Evangelion gaudium and right now the truth that really should be at the forefront of the church's consciousness is mercy because it's part of the evangelization it's what as he puts it makes our faith attractive to those who are lost or forgotten or you know have issues with the church is to remind them of the center of it and then everything else flows from there so first I think it's it's part of a strategy for the new evangelization which was part of the strategy of Pope Benedict part of the strategy with John Paul the second part of the strategy of attica to the second thing is I think it's because we need it you know more than ever yeah I mean I think often of Romans 5 verse 20 where sin abounded grace abounded all the more that we are in a time of in some ways unprecedented evil and part of the inside of John Paul the second there's lots of blessings of the modern world but in some ways evil has a reach now like no other time in the history of the world but God is not outdone by evil and he gives even greater grace and mercy and I really see the declaration of the year of mercy is really a gift to us especially when we're tempted to despair and get discouraged when we look around at the world and it's a reminder for us to give us hope and to realize that we can call out for a mercy and that it is effective this love that's more powerful than evil and that can bring not only good out of evil but an even greater good out of you all well if you ask yourself what really is at the heart of the gospel what is the good news it has to be mercy yes God willing in fact he delights in dispensing what we don't deserve imagine if the good news were justice you're gonna get just what you deserve I mean nobody would be drawn to a message like that I have a colleague who tells his students if you come to class you're gonna get mercy if you don't come you're gonna get justice nobody wants justice they want mercy but nobody deserves it yeah you know in his in his bowl of in diction Pope Francis points out in misericórdia vultus which announced the great Jubilee of divine mercy he quotes st. Thomas Aquinas and shows that you know mercy is not a sign of divine weakness but it's actually a sign of divine omnipotence and and sometimes I have students who will write on their final exams mercy is God's greatest attribute and they're right but I probably are wrong about you know it isn't like well there's a smorgasbord well you know there's there's power there's knowledge there's goodness oh mercy you know I'll start with dessert the fact is you know what Aquinas is pointing out what Pope Francis is pointing out is Mercy is precisely how God coordinates all of his attributes so it's his power it's his knowledge it's his goodness adding up to a love in action you know and so when you look at know as you just said quoting Romans 5 where sin abounds grace abounds all the more well where did sin abound the most of all on Good Friday when we crucified the Son of God you know and yet the greatest evil in the history of the human race is precisely the wellspring of the salvation of the human race so the greatest evil we've ever committed against God becomes the source of the greatest good he's ever shown us and that's not exceptional I think that kind of creates a paradigm so that we can see how things will unfold in our lives through His mercy we keep falling because of our weakness and sin but we keep falling upward like a divine trampoline of sorts I suppose you know and it just gives you constant hope that no matter what I discover about my lowliness he's going to raise me to Heights that I can't even imagine at the same time you point out that John Paul rocked your world and when you mentioned that he he rocked mine too because he was talking about the necessity of discovering mercy and how that can prevent a setback of unfathomable consequences for civilization now John Paul was not a man given to hyperbole or exaggerated exaggeration you could almost feel the rhetorical restraint he knows that something is awaiting the human race for all of the sins that have mounted to the heavens you know and yet just as it was on Good Friday so could be in the 21st century if we soften our hearts if we turn to him in our misery his misery cordilla that divine heart will what will respond to us I mean if that doesn't rock our world something else of catastrophic proportions will you know and in a former book of yours the consoling the Heart of Jesus you talk about really accepting mercy understanding Christ's mercy about how we can assess ways in our own lives the wounds of Christ in this book you draw us out in a very practical way of that love in action of mercy in action so as we look at those works of mercy we talked about earlier on the last segment I mean are there a deeper meanings as we look at some of these you know starting with you know the the hungry and the thirsty knowing the knowing them that that might be just very simple okay so I have to go out and feed the hungry I have to feed the thirsty is there something more that we need to look at as Catholics particular this year of mercy at some of these mystery or some of these mercies yeah for the works of mercy I think in a certain sense there's a deeper meaning for all of the works of mercy in that that we don't look at as a you know boxes to check off okay fed the hungry got that done I think the essence of and this is this I think goes to back it to the strategy with with Pope Francis is that mercy needs to be a response to the mercy that we ourselves have received from the Lord so you know for instance like feed the hungry before we go out and feed the hungry of others it's too real recognize that the food that we eat every day comes as a gift from our Heavenly Father not to lose the practice of praying before meals and really being thankful not just have it be a rout or not to neglect it but to think like the father is giving me this food as a gift that's right that I have this foodie there's there's millions of people who are starving to realize that all of the works of mercy it's our it's our response to the mercy and love that we ourselves have received and I think that's why we're focusing on the year of Mercy is it begins with that experience of the mercy of the Father in our own lives it's it's really honing in on the I know about mercy do we know about it oh yeah of course I know God loves do we know that like do it are we getting it because to the degree and I believe in a certain sense to the degree that we understand ourselves as forgiving and experienced the mercy of God in our own lives that's the degree that we're gonna be able to show mercy to others so for all of the works emergent I think that really is the deeper meaning than it needs to arise from a personal encounter with the mercy of God and that's why Pope Francis and even Jolyon gaudium talks about that where does the joy of the gospel come from it comes from an encounter with Jesus Christ in His mercy you know and that's you know you talk about consoling the Heart of Jesus that whole book was about coming to that encounter this book is about now going into action having had that encounter but if we're if we're not beginning with that experience of love from the Lord then the works of mercy become do-goodery you know it's just like right it needs to arise out of our gratitude and our thanksgiving for what he's done for us and I think that's what we need to rediscover and that's where the fire gets lit to do the works of mercy this other the works of mercy and a certain sense become easy you know you know Chesterton says that the first obligation of religious man is gratitude for a gift he could never himself give and that's being life that's the origin of mercy that we exist it's not a function of justice he doesn't owe us being but he gives us life and so we ought to be thankful and it has to be practical that's what I like so much about this Pope he exhorts us I know this is a sort of time-sensitive show we can't give away the date but since these waves of refugees have been sweeping across the world for a long time now the Pope specifically exhorts F parish to welcome a family right that's mercy in action I mean it's very easy to theorize about it romanticize about it but you know as Dostoevsky tells us it's only love when it becomes harsh dreadful and commits you to something painful something sacrificial it's cannot ik and that's what we have to imitate Jesus in doing for those who have not it's a paradox because on the one hand you say it's not just do good or it's not just when it's convenient on the other hand you also point out that it gets easier because of how we open our hearts to the the mercy of God and begin to see ourselves that that you know Christ is in the poorest of the poor you know so we see Christ in the poorest of the poor but we also discover ourselves that we're poorer than we ever thought and that Christ has entered into solidarity with us with me and I think that's what makes it easier because it's sort of like how can I do otherwise without just strangling without just shriveling without shrinking up the whole flow of that into my life I'm reminded of that movie Schindler's List right where this factory owner is buying off the Jews from the Nazis you know and it's convenient and and it's profitable but in the end you know his own heart has been touched by this so that when they're being liberated he looks at his watch and he realizes one more person you know and then he begins to weep about how many more opportunities he could have you know he had but he didn't take advantage of and I and I think you know I don't want to get to the end of my life and and feel that way but I just you know and unless I change this year I'm going to you know time islands yeah it's a beautiful one and what you're describing too it's it's it's reminding me of because your question is also about like the is there a deeper idea with the doing the works of mercy and it's sort of that some of the things I'm not gonna tie it all together but when I was listening you guys talk it he's reminding me that the works of mercy are a gift to us you know and and there's a very amazing it was one of the most amazing passages in the whole of John Paul the second sin cyclical on divine mercy where he talks about mercy is always a bilateral reality what in other words he goes so far as to say that if we do a work of mercy although he doesn't put exactly like this we do a work of mercy and we're not conscious as we're doing it that we are being blessed by that person just as much we're blessing him it's not mercy right mercy is always a two-way street a two-way reality and that's why it's a gift for us so we have to recognize that's a gift for us this is a I can't remember exactly or words but it's just struck me with that is that this is a gift it's a it's a privilege for us to be able to do the works of mercy it's part of our salvation it's an opportunity they're allowing us to do godlike action they're allowing us to do those things so that someday at the end of our lives we can hear the father say to us you did it to me if they're providing opportunities for us what a blessing if we don't see it that way if we just see like I'm on a pedestal oh let me help this and we're checking off the boxes that works of mercy well it's not going to motivate us but if we see it as this is an act of gratitude for what I've been given and this is it this is a gift that I have to be able to do these works because it helps helps my salvation but it also is a gift and privilege because I'm acting like God and so often people who do it will invariably end up hearing themselves say I got more out of it yes you think of the Good Samaritan who bends over this stricken man on the side of the road he's giving him mercy but at the same time he really is the recipient of a mercy a merciful opportunity to do something generous and even as that we talked about earlier even the ordinary ways you talk about in the book you know your sister as a homemaker as a mom how she is feeding the hungry how she is giving drink to the thirsty how she's clothing the naked sheltering that the home yeah all of those ways that even in our simple ways if it's yeah to think that that that with great gratitude all that I've been received and these children are dependent upon me as a father as a breadwinner all those different than one of the things that we do in our daily lives are already potential works of mercy but it's that we have to recognize it as such we have to do it with the right intentions not go to work grumbling but say I'm feeding the hungry of my children that's right and my family and things in that and that when it's done with that intention it's in the intention changes little deeds into great deeds of love you know said little things with great love listen at the deepest level you're giving Jesus to Jesus yeah yeah stay with us I'm Franciscan University presents when I think of mercy I think of Mother Teresa of Calcutta when she said give until it hurts and the spiritual work of Mercy that we can practice is consoling the afflicted and a corporal work of mercy we can practice is feeding our family friends and loved ones in my experience of the Lord's mercy I've grown to learn that his healing love is his mercy and then when he encounters suffering that's when he brings forth his mercy I am a communication arts major the president of film club and an editor for a Franciscan a diversity presents it's really great to be able to work on Franciscan University presents because it is a national television show on EWTN and a lot of other schools you're not gonna have that kind of ability to put that on resume when I graduate I know that I'm going to to be firm and sticking with my faith and you know going to daily Mass and a frequent confession and things like that because instead of just learning with my mind or just focusing on schoolwork I actually you know can grow with my whole person Franciscan University is academically excellent and passionately Catholic welcome back to Franciscan University presents this program springs forth from the very heart of Franciscan University in Steubenville Ohio recording this show right now in our communication art studio here in Steubenville Ohio our students are operating the camera and equipment here our panelists are our theology faculty here at the University actually father Michael is also an alumnus of the University so it's very much part of who we are in our mission to the world so we've talked a lot about the foundations of mercy the understanding both theological but also some very practical ideas your book is beautiful and then it really is a practical guide as you say in the subtitle here but let's go through the works of mercy to give us some real practical insights in this last segment sure you know we talked about the distinction of the traditional approach where there's 14 categories right 7 spiritual 7 than the Corporal 7th corporal this then some scripture in Matthew 25 that passage where you know the title of the book you did it to me Lord when did we see you hungry and thirsty and you know all these different works of mercy so there's a way that I think it's helpful to kind of remember the kind of crazy and we've all joked about it and it's very crazy maybe though I'm not sure b-roll or something they could put up the image but there is a word that is a way I remember the 5 cat scriptural categories and it's high school ninjas stab porcupines but you will never forget with that image out there high school high school and then just a porcupine the idea is because if you're a high school ninja and not a fully graduated ninja you're gonna make a silly mistake like stabbing a porcupine that has quills longer than your ninja sword if you see the picture you'll make sense but the idea the reason I bring up that bizarre phrase is it helps us remember each one of those words in that sentence helps us remember what in the different five categories so high school or high it's for hungry as in feed the hungry and we also bring in their drink to the thirsty Tyson with that second stab that's for stranger as in welcome the stranger high school ninjas and a ninjas naked as include the naked high school ninja stab again there's another after this one is the sick is and visit the sick high school ninja stab porcupines the peon porcupines for prison visit those in prison so those are the five categories and the reason I like that is not just get the ninjas in your mind but so remember where you can then meditate on that and you can even do an examination of conscience as you're reflecting on those things because that's what we're gonna hear at the very end Jesus is gonna ask us these things the Lord is gonna ask us how have we done this how we have fed the hungry welcome the stranger clothe the naked you know visit the sick visit those in prison so that's one way that we can remember the practice let me say one thing because when I got to that part of the book where I saw high school ninja step or you put it down and said I thought this is silly this is outrageous this you know but what I discovered a little while later you can't get out of your mind that's the idea that's what makes it such a good and effective mnemonic device because I mean it's it's I came up with a better list but I forgot what it was but I couldn't forget you gave me and I still resent you and also to just the reality that when it's simple when it's memorable will actually repeat it more well think about it it'll be in our mind I know what a porcupine is but what the hell is a minute let's go through very briefly and some practical ideas sure when we think about that the hungry you know hungry and thirsty well what can we do as Catholics when we think about feeding the hungry sure we can't go through the whole book obviously with all the recommendations because there's lots of recommendations one big one is mice was frames for my sister my sister she's got seven kids and sometimes she's in the hospital you know with it with the kids and one of the things she says she loves so much is when neighbors have gone and made meals for the family when she was in the hospital or something um you know little things like that sometimes if we know someone in our community there maybe they're going through a really difficult time we know so they volunteer to make a meal I remember my sister said there's the greatest thing you could do for a moment make a meal for our family that's that's one practical thing but of course we can volunteer soup kitchens and and things like that or even start one you may even tours or even start one or just again as we said in the last segment just if you're if you're a breadwinner or a homemaker if you're preparing meals if you're earning the money that buys the food to do it with an intentionality if I'm feeding my family but not just go through the motions but to do it I want to do this as an act of oh jesus as a work of mercy for Jesus and I've love for my family yeah yeah you know there's a way in which we can escape ourselves through this sort of list you know whether it's the five or the two sets of of seven each because you know we're feeding our family well when we're going out and giving alms or visiting those who are in prison we're taking care of our family we're just reminding ourselves that our family is a lot bigger than just my own natural human carnal family it it really is God's and you know III think this is really embedded in Scripture and it's part of our tradition you know you also talk about alms giving and we reminded me of Tobit one of my favorite Old Testament books that I didn't have before I became a Catholic you know and and how he would bury the dead and he would go out of his way to find those in need you know and as I read commentaries on Tobit I discovered that long before Jesus the rabbis had this idea that when you give all of the poor you're really giving a loan to God what a reliable line of credit that is you know because you're gonna get it back and and so then suddenly grace and God's mercy is sort of the the interest that epa's you on the loan that you give and there's such a radically different way of thinking about mercy in the Word of God thinking of it about in terms of the Covenant and that that these people out there Jesus suffered and died for them every bit as much as he did for me if I don't allow him to help me think of them as brothers and sisters I'm toast it's Erna lis you know I mean there is something dynamic about the Christian story and the discipleship that it enjoins upon all of us it's a movement a coursing you know a transition from God to the world the spirit calls the world into the church but at the same time he calls the church into the world and this movement into the world up is is meant to be Church I mean I think of Mary she receives the word on the Feast of the Annunciation and no sooner does that happen she's climbing a hill to go visit her cousin in the visitation that's the apostolate and if it's not an apostolate of mercy then it's really phony it's incomplete mm-hm so ii was s right it was at the school ranger yeah so a one practical thing with strangers is that's in the book is something that there was this little pamphlet called the apostolate of smiling yes and it was a kind of it seemed a little corny at first but as you're reading it it gets to the end and it's very profound and it's basically saying you know that and this goes back to even jelly gaudium to is that the attractiveness of the gospel in our joy yes and that we could ask ourselves a new examination of conscience there's a lot of people who are strangers and we got to use prudence you know we don't go around smiling maybe in a dark alley or something right but but the idea is you you know it's sometimes when we go to the grocery store things every passed by everyone and maybe just the apostle of smiling or even in our own families are working we're happy and smiling everybody we get home and you know it's like we become somebody different and brooding and but to give to welcome the stranger through the apostle of smiling of smiling through our joy of making that effort mother Teresa would always say if you don't want to make a smile make a smile to reflect the joy of the gospel a line from Leon wall he's he says that joy is the most infallible sign of God's presence and you mentioned Mother Teresa and I thought of her immediately here was a woman who experienced the dark night what forty fifty years and yet she radiates this joy her her faces wreathed in smiles all the time and you would think she's having a mystic experience but no it's the dark night and yet she overcomes that out of love for the world and it's not a funny thing no it's only you make but I think CS Lewis talks about you make a smile even if you don't want to but then it's like it's like God's grace you make it and then it's filled with like priming the grace yeah and then it's like then it is authentic but no it takes yeah you San Jose Maria I remember when I was discovering his spirituality you know my wife wasn't sure what to think of it because she was in Catholic yet you know but she know what the meaning of mortification was you know in terms of fasting and the sort of thing and when I mentioned that st. Josemaria spoke of mortification in terms of smiling she just fell in love with the guy Oh like yeah and I think that's some one of the most practical expressions of putting to death our own pride you're just smiling whether we feel like it or not and then we start to feel like it and and I I think that's the way mercy brings about reciprocity you know there's a new book by a Protestant named Berkeley on Paul's theology of grace and it's the notion of gift because what Berkeley has done is to go back and discover that a gift is not just received passively in the case of grace Carice in the first century this sort of gift is what empowered the person to respond in a way that was really mutual and reciprocity and and that's what family bonds do I mean it isn't just giving it's also then suddenly that feedback loop completes the circuit as a word and so again yes H s high school ninja ninja stands for naked as in clothing now I think a lot of problems these days is not there's there's not a lot of naked people in the streets that you have close to you there's a lot of running around by the time yeah you know actually if you're from Southern California like I am I think well there are a lot of naked people but it's by choice in modesty and things but the ideas is one of the nakedness things that we can close it's very you know one weakened empty our closets so we'll probably a lot of us have too many clothes and we really need and we can donate those but another practical thing is clothing the nakedness of people's ignorance you know instruct the ignorant of the seven heard the fourteen and one of the ways we can do that is right now in the Catholic world there are so many different resources available like to help instruct me even if we're not great at preaching or you know something a lot of times I put my foot in my mouth and things like that but if I get a good there's all these great Catholic CDs you know this guy has some great ones rather different books to be able to give them to friends and let those things speak to themselves people just don't know and it's a way of evangelizing that's a way of clothing the naked people who don't have the riches and of the truth of Christ and I don't know about Christ and people to share things and if what you're feeding the hungry I mean it yeah there really is yeah it's a spread it's every trend that is not shallow but deeper than physics I mean if you've got something great but you don't want to give it away I think the suspicion grows that maybe it's not so great or maybe you've never really been convicted of its greatness so love has to be diffusive of itself it needs to radiate out to those who do not yet have it yeah so we go HSN and then the sick yes there's let's see with the sick it's um you know a lot of times people are sick we want to avoid them because when we don't wanna get sick ourselves that's right but the idea is you know there's little things that we can do for people were sick and we could just ask ourselves is there anybody second aren't among our friends or families maybe letting them know because a lot of times people sort of scatter giving them a phone call or getting some popsicles or you know doing something like that for people who are sick but also when people are sick or suffering in different ways to remind them in a very tactful way of you know saying hey wouldn't you're suffering a lot and that has a lot of value before the Lord would you pray for me you know and remind them in tactful ways of offering up their sufferings because in a lot of ways the people who are sick that people were suffering are the most the biggest prayer powerhouses in the church and that could be a way of comforting the sick well that was a that's Pope Francis's image the church as a field hospital that's which presupposes there's a lot of sickness out there that needs to be ass waged both physical and spiritual right and and the recognition of that is a kind of grace that that I'm gonna help you because you know what I need it more than you do yeah and maybe you'll reciprocate and help me yeah and the last one is P P stands for prison as in visit those in prison now it's not always easy prison ministry is incredible and if you can do it I mean it's an amazingly rewarding ministry but one there's some prisoners that are almost Morcom for gotten maybe then prisoners in there and our prison system and that's the souls in purgatory you know prison Purgatory's and is described as a prison sir and you know the people in purgatory they can't pray for themselves they have to rely on us and I can think of few works of mercy that are so easy and yet means so much for someone else and sometimes we're forgetting about that and so you know I encourage people sometimes it's not talked about as much these days but to pray for the souls in purgatory a lot of times at funerals they're like canonization ceremonies but to remember people are in purgatory want our prayers I remember brother just passed away two days ago I went to visit him and I remember his words or he said pray for me yeah pray for forget me yeah for me and prisons that's a good reminder because you know I'm thinking of my son and my daughter lawn and how they go to a retirement home with religious sisters and you found out that the loneliness and solitude becomes a kind of prison and you know what they've discovered is once again we're more blessed than those but I mean these retired women are these religious sisters are just I mean overflowing with grabs and joy Cimbri has also made a point at times of finding the people who are alone as widows or when I was in houses I mean it's a kind of prison there too we had you know three houses away from us we didn't know but this is you know this person was in deep loneliness you know it's a kind of cave yeah and all the difference it can make absolutely stay with us on Franciscan University presents for our final segment I think one of the benefits with doing the works of mercy it's very much in line with st. Francis and it's through giving that we actually in turn receive st. Francis of Assisi and reflecting on his own life would say that he came to know and understand the mercy of God for him by the way in which he was able to extend mercy to other people in his case it was the lepers outside of Assisi for us in this year of Mercy it's important for us to come to know and appreciate the father's mercy and father Michael Gately in his book gives us a wonderful opportunity and a lot of practical advice on how to come to know the father's mercy by being merciful ourselves explore the treasures of your Catholic heritage on a Franciscan University pilgrimage led by inspiring spiritual directors you'll walk in the footsteps of saints and martyrs in the Holy Land Poland France and Italy and you'll deepen your love for Jesus Christ through daily mass confession prayer and the joy of Christian Fellowship led Franciscan University lead you on a pilgrimage of faith find out more at Franciscan edu slash pilgrimages welcome back to Franciscan University presents we've been talking to father Michael Gately about mercy particularly this year of mercy it's our final segment Regis could you start us off yeah a couple of observations obviously one of gratitude to you Father for the work that you've done the impact that you're having in in the order of grace the mercy that you mediate and your understanding of it it is profound and penetrating another of thought comes to mind and this is sort of metaphysical why is there a world I mean we live in in the midst of being but why being rather than nothingness and the answer for the Christian is because God is in love he's in love with us and he's driven by that love that thirst for us to create to fill the world with impossible people like Scott and Michael myself and and you and somebody once said the reason he makes so many people is because he loves to tell stories and the people he makes are the stories he tells and every story is incomplete and mercy I think is what remedies the telling finishes the tale makes it turn out well so that it's not tragic it doesn't end in nothingness it ends in in beatitude the kingdom and that's a work of mercy I think if I could end with a passage from Shakespeare the Merchant of Venice which is really a story about mercy the great speech delivered by Portia she wants to rescue an Tonio who who is about to yield up his pound of flesh because demands it in justice and she delivers this speech I'm compressing it the quality of Mercy is not strained it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath it is twice blessed it blesseth him that gives and him that takes and then she ends by telling us or telling the the court the room that it is an attribute of God himself and she appeals to and says look though justice be thy plea consider this that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation we do pray for mercy and that same prayer doth teach all of us to render the deeds of mercy because we receive mercy we are moved to give it we don't want justice we want mercy Thank You Regis Scotty you know Regis quoted Leon blah earlier about joy and it seems to me that these two things are inseparable mercy and joy receiving mercy gives us joy but then giving mercy gives us even deeper joy I'm grateful for the acronym you know or for that a breathing you know about the Portland is the high school ninja stab porcupines at the same time I'm also grateful for the two lists of seven the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy that you list because as humans we are not just souls trapped in bodies we are embodied persons and so the corporal works of mercy reach us down to the very heart of who we are as persons but the spiritual works of mercy I think in some ways are more easily and frequently forgotten instructing the ignorant counseling the doubtful monitoring sinners bearing wrongs patiently forgiving offenses willingly comfort the afflicted praying for the living in the dead you know I remember hearing a colonel from South America talk about how the Catholics were reaching out to the poor with just you know material relief but while the church was opting for the poor he said the poor were opting for the evangelicals because the evangelicals were giving them the gospel which is something that reaches down to the soul it doesn't bypass the body but it shows us that the deeper hunger the deeper thirst the deeper kind of nakedness and imprisonment really is that estrangement from God that Jesus I'm alone can overcome and so you know people like me have got to really work on the corporal works of mercy I'm a professor but people are out there in the world got to realize too that the souls that are hungry and thirsting need gospel and the New Evangelization I think is a way to reach out and really you know to satisfy those deepest needs that people have right around us who might be fully clothed and you know satisfied with all of the food and drink they want and yet as mother Teresa reminds us the deepest poverty is that kind of spiritual poverty mm-hmm thank you you do a good job by the way thank you thanks man finally I think just to end with giving again the big picture I think of that this is the time of mercy and this is the year of mercy it's like a mercy within mercy Pope Francis this is the great time of mercy but we're living in a year of mercy now and what is this year for I think it's for two things one it's to experience the mercy of God ourselves to encounter the mercy of God and Jesus Christ one recommendation I would do is something that you know it's one thing to hear something but there's a way that like culture and art speaks to a heart the heart and a way words alone don't and I would encourage everyone to get some type of image of divine mercy that's kind of the image for our time in this time of mercy and to look at that image and see those rays that are going forth from the Heart of Jesus which is you know the blood and water that gush forth in the pierced side of Jesus is a fountain of mercy for us as he was dying on the cross and is he after he died on the cross but to look at that image and to realize that those rays don't change they're always going out God's mercy is always there for us God's love for us doesn't change we may change we may turn our backs on it but that love doesn't change and when we're ready to turn away from sin and and and behave with a contrite heart go to him that love and mercy is always there for us yes so to experience that to spend time be praying before the image of divine mercy and reflecting on the reality of mercy that it that it proclaims to us the second thing to realize is having having received mercy having reflected on mercy having experience in an encounter mercy in Jesus Christ which is the mercy of the Father - then give that mercy to others then you know dr. Martin made me think of something he was saying you know why did God create why is there being it's because of mercy bringing something from not being to being as an act of mercy right but there's also a question of why is there suffering the great problem of evil I think this really begins to get to the heart of the works of you really addressed that main question why is there suffering Jesus Christ did not take come to take away suffering but to transform suffering into love hmm and he did that on the cross why did he do that because the suffering of our neighbor opens up for us the space of mercy without suffering we won't be moved to do that God like tact of mercy I wonder if God allows suffering in the world as horrible as it is to bring good out of it and even greater good out of it namely to save us by allowing us to be brought into the mystery of his mercy that our hearts would be moved by the power of the Holy Spirit to give that love and mercy that we've received to others as part of the mystery of God's plan of salvation that he's allowed mercy but so they can be transformed in the love and in this year of mercy I would encourage everyone to really embrace that invitation to embrace that grace of mercy not only to receive it from Jesus but to be living images of mercy living images of Christ to those who are suffering around us mmm that's so great father thank you so much for being with us if you've enjoyed today's program you can go to faith and reason com or just ask us for this handout from the Pope the Holy Fathers proclamation of the year of mercy you can download it it's it's definitely worth the read I recommend you to buy father Michaels book as you look as father just recommended as you look at this year of mercy make it as an opportunity for you personally to encounter mercy encounter him in that beautiful image of divine mercy but also to be on a mission let's act now let's not wait for tomorrow let's do something today to begin to live mercy and work it in our lives the entire mission of Franciscan University is to form those who are going to be transforming the world for Christ and I want to invite you to be a part of that mission maybe to come and take classes here in Steubenville maybe it's to take classes online or join us at one of our dynamic conferences or our pilgrimages to holy shrines or be equipped through faith and reason and some of our other websites with great materials to be a part of the new evangelization be a part of Franciscan versus mission to change the world father could you closer to the blessing through the intercession of Mary Immaculate and all the angels Saints may Almighty God bless you and those watching that they would have a powerful year of mercy experiencing the mercy of God and sharing that mercy with all they meet may Almighty God bless you Father Son and Holy Spirit amen to download the free handout on today's topic go to faith and reason com email your request for the handout - presents at Franciscan ddu at faith in reason comm you can also purchase past episodes of Franciscan University presents or request today's free hand out and purchase past programs by calling 888 three three three zero three eight one that's eight eight eight three three three zero three eight one or call seven four zero two eight three six three five seven you

Channel: Franciscan University of Steubenville

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Rating: 4.9189191 out of 5

Keywords: Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, Catholic, college, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franciscan University of Steubenville (College / University), FaithAndReason.com, Faith And Reason, EWTN, Eternal Word Television Network, Franciscan University Presents, Michael Hernon, Dr. Regis Martin, Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Michael Gaitley MIC, You Did It to Me: A Practical Guide to Mercy in Action, Divine Mercy, Mercy Sunday, Year of Mercy, Works of Mercy

Id: SGS7Dz1Ez7o

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 07 2016