40 Days for the Poor - Day 25 - Corporal Works of Mercy

Oops! I am really falling behind! Sunday and Monday were incredibly busy and then yesterday I really had to devote myself to helping Sean prep for his Aquinas Learning Day on Thursday. Today will also be taken up with that mostly (plus you know Becky and Josh need a little attention too!).

So I've got Days 25 to 28 to do! We'll see what I can get accomplished!

I was thinking about all this the other day and thought that I really should have framed this whole 40 Days things in terms of the Corporal Works of Mercy, which is the Catholic 'list' (Catholics love lists like this!) of the bodily or corporal works that we should do for our fellow man. They are:

1. To feed the hungry
2. To give drink to the thirsty
3. To clothe the naked
4. To shelter the homeless
5. To visit the sick
6. To visit the imprisoned
7. To bury the dead

I think I tend to emphasize the first four and maybe not do so much for the last three. In fact, right now I can't think of a thing I do for no. 7. I think that particular problem isn't as apparent now as it was in the past.

I know canned food drives, donations to places like Food for the Poor, and the like address feeding the poor and giving drink to the thirsty. In fact you can have a well dug for some poor village somewhere via Food for the Poor and give a whole village water to drink. Accessible drinking water makes such a huge difference!

I know giving donations and helping out with the local hypothermia shelter, assists the homeless. Food for the Poor and Habitat for Humanity are major charities that devote their time to getting housing for the homeless and poor.

I guess visiting the elderly in nursing homes is also visiting the sick. Sometimes, our parish youth group will make cards or little care packages for kids sick in the hospital. In fact, for our Giving Tree one of the kids bought a couple board games for an organization called Children in Need of Smiles or something like that! We aren't actually visiting, but we are trying to convey compassion and brighten their load a bit, perhaps ease their suffering a little.

One thing that we did recently (well, back in September) was participate in an Honor Guard with Becky's American Heritage Troop. We lined up at the airport with cheering signs and greeted a bunch of WWII veterans as they came back from a day touring Washington D.C. These men (and 1 woman!) are really getting up their in years and most of them were in wheelchairs. Their lives are so limited now. Honor Guard does a wonderful service to show our nation's gratitude towards these soldiers who helped preserve our country from the Nazis and the imperialism of the Japanese government at that time. We smiled and waved, shook their hands and hugged them. So in a way that was visiting the sick.

I'm out of time!