WORKS OF MERCY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To point out the importance of mercy in
responding to the needs of others
2. To determine ways to help those in need
3. To identify the purpose of corporal works of
mercy and spiritual works of Mercy
 MERCY
Is a value and at the same time an emotion that opens
and encourages us to respond to the needs of other
people. To feel mercy toward other people could be a
start to extend one’s helping hand.
Compassion or forgiveness
shown toward someone
whom it is within one's
power to punish or harm.
 James 2:14-17
14
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone
claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith
save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without
clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them,
“Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does
nothing about their physical needs, what good is
it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is dead.
An expression of faith in God can be found in love for
neighbour, whom He created in His image, redeemed
by the blood of His begotten Son, and guided by His
Spirit.
The Church calls for preferential love for the poor and
the oppress. When we attend to the needs of those in
want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More
than performing works of mercy, we are paying a
debt of Justice. (CSDCC 184)

Compendium of the social doctrine of the church

 Presidential Decree 1563
Mendicancy Law of 1978
1563 (issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos in June 11,
1978), the law designed to control and eventually eradicate
widespread street begging in the Philippines, states that
mendicants (people who use begging as a means of livelihood) is
illegal and can be punished with a fine or imprisonment for up to
two years.
 DEBATE

Debate whether people should continue

or stop giving money or food to beggars
on the streets.
The true expression of
faith in God can be found
in love for neighbor.

This love for neighbor can be

concretized through
charitable actions called
“works of mercy”
The works of mercy
present the reality of
human misery as
consequence of original
sin.

The Church calls for

preferential love for the poor
and the oppressed.
 In your opinion, how can the
government eradicate poverty?
How can the Church moticate the
people to help those in need?
“Faith of itself, if it does not have
works, is dead.”

—James 2:14-17
The works of mercy
are divided in two
main categories
CORPORAL WORKS
OF MERCY
SPIRITUAL WORKS
OF MERCY
 The corporal works of mercy are
those kind acts in which we help our
neighbors with their material and
physical needs
CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCY
 to feed the hungry,
to give drink to the thirsty,
to clothe the naked,
to give shelter to homeless,
to visit the sick,
to visit the imprisoned,
and to bury the dead.
 Jesus in His ministry attended to the
spiritual well-being of the people. As
disciples of Christ, everyone is called to
promote the spiritual well-being of his
neighbor
SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY
 Counseling the doubtful
Instructing the ignorant
Admonishing the sinner
Comforting the sorrowful
Forgiving injuries
Bearing wrongs patiently
Praying for the living and the dead
 Why are there people who are educated in
Scriptures and Church teachings but remain
spiritually poor?