Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty
The Corporal Works of Mercy are acts of kindness and charity aimed at providing the
necessities of life. Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a closer look at each of the seven and
begin with Feed the Hungry and Give Drink to the Thirsty.
Perhaps you recall the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25. The story teaches us the
importance of providing food and drink to those in need by reminding us that when we do these things to
others we are, in fact, also doing them to Jesus!
In the Old Testament, Isaiah 58:7 also speaks to this. He warns the people of his day against worship and
sacrifice that is only for show and proclaims that the sacrifice God wants is kindness shown to others.
But, you say, “I don’t know anyone who is hungry or thirsty! ”That’s likely true, but you know that they exist
and live here in our area. Fortunately, there are ministries that help them and so by helping these ministries,
you are feeding the hungry.
Here are a few ways you can help…
Seek Conference
· We have bins in the narthex to collect food for our pantry. Could you pick up a few BOGO items at
the store each week and bring them to Mass?
· Our monthly Local Outreach collection supports the pantry, so financial gifts are an option.
· May be best of all, volunteer at the pantry on Wednesday mornings
Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The diocese recently announced the 1,000,000 Acts of Mercy Challenge. Bishop Parkes is challenging everyone in
the five counties of the Diocese to renew their understanding of the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy and
then together complete one million works of mercy by Advent 2025.
What’s an act of mercy? Perhaps you’ll recall the corporal works of mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the
thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, bury the dead, give alms to the poor. And the
spiritual works of mercy: counsel the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing the sinner, comforting the
sorrowful, forgiving injuries, bearing wrongs patiently, praying for the living and the dead.
Can the goal be reached? Easily. We did a rough sum of the acts of mercy we expect to perform hereat St. Anne
as part of our regular ministries.
· Giving ~400 families food each week (400X 52) …20,800
· Taking communion and visiting the sick… 3,500 (Our Eucharistic Ministers recorded 3,541 visits in 2024)
· Teaching the faith to our children (30 weeks X 300 children) … 9,000
Addin St. Vincent de Paul, all our prayer groups, and the bereavement ministry and we’re easily over 35,000 acts
of mercy. Once we include all the individual things you and I do, that number will grow even more.
So, is this just a bookkeeping exercise? Hopefully not! Yes, the diocese is expecting us to participate and that
means going to their website and recording what is done. But there is an opportunity here and I hope we’ll take
advantage of it in at least two ways.
First, logging our individual and groups acts of mercy will raise our awareness of what we already do. Before
reading this article, would you have expected St. Anne to be doing 35,000 acts of mercy each year? Once
everyone records their individual works, we may be wonderfully surprised.
More importantly, this challenge can spur us to do even more. As you look at the 14 works of mercy, perhaps you
notice something that you could do and yet do not. Who knows where that opportunity might lead if we accept it.
I hope you will be willing to help us out and log the acts of mercy you do individually or as part of a parish ministry.
Here’s a few quick things to keep in mind.
· The office will log everything related to the homebound ministry, food pantry, and Faith
Formation program
· For everything else, go to https://www.dosp.org/jubilee2025/mercychallenge/
challenge form/ to fill out the short form
