ULTREYA WITNESS: The Spiritual Works of Mercy in My Life

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1 ULTREYA WITNESS: The Spiritual Works of Mercy in My Life By Michael V. Ciccocioppo, Jr., Diocese of Harrisburg Given at the Central Ultreya of the Diocese of Bridgeport In Wilton, Connecticut, December 2, 2015 Good Evening! Thank, Gina, for inviting me. It is always great to be with so many friends here. I just came in from a little private retreat at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy. I wanted to have some quiet time for reflection there in preparation for the Great Jubilee of Mercy which begins December the 8 th. As I have been thinking about how to share some of my life in Christ here at this Ultreya, I was flooded with many ideas. But in the end I discerned that I should share with you the Spiritual Works of Mercy and give you a glimpse of how I try to live them in my life. If we had more time, I could also get into the Corporal Works of Mercy. Many people seem to be more familiar with them. You remember: 1. To feed the hungry 2. To give drink to the thirsty 3. To clothe the naked 4. To visit the imprisoned 5. To shelter the homeless 6. To visit the sick and 7. To bury the dead But tonight, on the eve of the Great Jubilee of Mercy, I would like to briefly share how in my life of piety, study and action I have made friends, been friends and brought my friends to Christ through the Spiritual Works of Mercy, which are: 1. To admonish the sinner 2. To instruct the ignorant 3. To counsel the doubtful 4. To comfort the sorrowful 5. To bear wrongs patiently 6. To forgive all injuries and 7. To pray for the living and the dead [The Works of Mercy are in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2447] I. To admonish the sinner The first spiritual work of mercy is to admonish the sinner. Notice that it isn t to judge the sinner. In Mathew chapter 18 verse 15, Jesus says, quote: "If your brother sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. End quote. Before I speak directly to someone about what appears to be sin of some consequence, I pray about it and if need be, I study the situation from as many angles as possible. For example, one time when my wife, Peggy, and I were spending the weekend at my daughter s home, she said she would go to Mass with us on Sunday morning before going to her usual Lutheran service with her husband.

2 But when we didn t get to bed until 2 a.m. Sunday morning, she said, Do you really have to go to Mass in the morning? Shocked by the question, I assured her that we wanted to go to Mass. Then the next morning, she went with us to Mass and received Holy Communion. I took the occasion to explain the differences between the Catholic Mass and the Lutheran service. And I told her that since she was not going to Mass every Sunday, she should not go to Holy Communion until she goes to confession. It was not easy for me to say these things to her, and it was not easy for my then 34 year old daughter to be admonished that way. But she took it to heart and later told me that since Lent was approaching, she went to Confession and made a firm purpose of amendment to go to Sunday Mass during Lent. She hoped to discern during that time. Much later she honestly told me that she believed that it was more important to go to church with her husband, so she joined his church and their choir and now never goes to Mass. I pray for her and all my kids everyday that they return to the faith. Peggy and I have always modeled faithfulness to the Church in our daily lives & we hope this will guide them back to the Church. But I don t think it is prudent or helpful to badger my children every time I see them. I believe that God s love, calls for us to cherish our children, unconditionally. II. To instruct the ignorant The second spiritual work of mercy, is to instruct the ignorant. In Matthew, Chapter 28, verses 19 and 20, we hear Jesus, quote: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." End quote. In my daily work as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, I am called upon often to instruct many diverse groups across Pennsylvania on the truth regarding the sanctity of all human life and the need to defend those among us who cannot defend themselves: the unborn, the vulnerable and the elderly. I do this formally: in presentations to audiences of five to 600 people in writings that are circulated to 10s of thousands of people in print and online in interviews broadcast on radio and television to potentially millions of listeners and viewers But I also instruct people about the truth behind abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia in oneor-one conversations. For example, last week I had lunch with a 24 year old friend who was telling me that he believes the girl he is going with now will one day be his wife. So I was sure to naturally weave into the conversation the advantages of chastity, the horrors of abortion and even the fact that unconditional love may mean having to deal with a few dishes being thrown around the kitchen. I had just read in the latest edition of Vanity Fair that that s the advice Pope Francis recently gave a young man who told him he was getting married! 1

3 III. To counsel the doubtful The third spiritual work of mercy is to counsel the doubtful. In the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verse 27, we hear Jesus say, quote: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. End quote. I begin each day bright and early in prayer, scripture, spiritual journaling, the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Holy Mass and Holy Communion. Then I try to see God s hand in everything that happens throughout the day. Each encounter that I have I treat as an encounter with Christ Himself, praying that the other will also see Christ in me. When someone expresses doubt about a truth of our faith or of moral principles, I quietly ask the Holy Spirit for inspiration, and then I don t hesitate to counsel the doubtful. One of my callings is to serve as a small group table leader on high school KAIROS retreats. KAIROS is Greek for God s Time, The High School KAIROS three-day retreat includes prayer, study and play. Once I get to know each of the students at my table, they pour out their questions in a seemingly unending deluge of doubts. I believe they question and they listen to what I say because they see me as an authentic witness to our faith, to our moral values, and to truth. IV. To comfort the sorrowful The fourth spiritual work of mercy is to comfort the sorrowful. In Matthew Chapter 11, verse 28, Jesus says, quote: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. End quote. During my 31 years in hospital administration I often faced suffering patients, family members and even distressed caregivers. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that the very best thing I could do to comfort them in their sorrows was to just spend some time with them. Just the act of visiting a person in sorrow is a comfort that you can t imagine. In fact, I learned that I didn t need to bring gifts, and I barely needed to say anything at all. All I needed to do was listen they were so happy to have someone just take the time to listen. Often people are so thankful to me when all I do is listen with tenderness, sensitivity and compassion. They tell me that it was the highlight of their day, or their week, and that I was so helpful. When all I did was give them some of my time and my ear. One example of comforting the sorrowful that is hard to talk about was the day I got the news that the son of one of my brothers had committed suicide. My nephew was on leave to celebrate his birthday in the States from his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. Without a second thought, without any clue as what to say or do, I jumped in my car and drove the 45 minutes to my brother s side and spent the day with him and his family. There were no words to console them. But even now my brother remembers my presence that day, and the comfort that it gave them in their sorrow. 2

4 V. To bear wrongs patiently The fifth spiritual work of mercy is to bear wrongs patiently. In Luke, chapter six, verses 27 and 28, we read Jesus command to, quote: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. End quote. I don t know about you, but for much of my life I did not bear wrongs patiently at all. In particular, when people were mean to me or spoke badly of me or even told lies about me behind my back, I would become very upset when these things were brought to my attention by people I trusted who were my friends. This would happen when I was in hospital management positions even in a Catholic hospital where I was a vice president. Then one day, somebody I respected and trusted said something to me that gave me the ability to see the harm I was inflicting on myself. This helped me to bear these wrongs patiently and let them slide off my back without a second thought. This person said, What people say about you behind your back is none of your business. Think about that for a second: What people say about you behind your back is none of your business. I admit that at first I rejected this. Of course it is my business, I objected. But then I was reminded that in my day I have talked about other people behind their backs. And I certainly did not mean it for their ears. And it wasn t my intention to hurt them even though it was still wrong to gossip like that. And so I decided from that point on that if somebody has something to say to me, they will say it in my presence. If they don t, then I don t even want to know about it. This is how I show spiritual mercy to those who wrong me like this. VI. To forgive all injuries The sixth spiritual work of mercy is to forgive all injuries. In Matthew 18, verses 21 and 22 we read this exchange, quote: Then Peter came up and said to Jesus, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. End quote. To practice this requires us to rely on the mercy of God. As the saying goes, To err is human, to forgive is divine. To forgive all injuries we must be one with Jesus, allowing His Spirit to work freely within us. In my previous example of people being mean to me or talking badly about me behind my back, I used to find it hard to forgive them even though they often didn t know that I knew what they had said and that I was holding it against them. But I realize that when people try to hurt me, it is more about themselves and their own insecurities than it is about me. And so my response is to say, as Jesus did on the cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 3

5 Ok, we are coming down the home stretch now! VII. To pray for the living and the dead The 7 th spiritual work of mercy is to pray for the living and the dead. In Luke, Chapter 11, verses 9 and 10 Jesus says, quote: "I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. End quote. I first learned to pray for others, living and dead, from my dear Italian grandmother when I was very young. She lived next door to us and I can still remember praying the rosary with her on her front porch and listening to her recite the names of all those for whom she prayed. It has just always been part of my life. Now I do a daily novena prayer through Saint Joseph. I hand-write the prayer in my prayer journal. It includes specific people whom I want to pray for, and specific intentions that I am praying for. This helps me remember every day to pray for these people. Among many other people I pray for every day, I specifically pray for our four children, that they will return to the practice of the faith of their baptisms. Whether it happens during my lifetime or after I pass, I have every confidence that this prayer will be granted before each of them passes to eternal life. CONCLUSION And so, let me conclude with the words of Jesus spoke to Saint Faustina, as she quoted Him in paragraph 742 of her diary: He demanded of us deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it. End quote. Kowalska, Saint Maria Faustina, Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul, Third Edition with Revisions (13 th printing), 2001, Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA, para. 742 I plan to take advantage of the Great Jubilee of Mercy to understand God s mercy even more and to practice the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy every day. My prayer for you is that you will do the same! DeColores! 4