The Works of Mercy or Acts of Mercy are actions and practices which the Catholic Church considers expectations to be fulfilled by believers. These works, it is believed, express mercy, and are thus expected to be performed by believers insofar as they are able in accordance with the Beatitude, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). These acts are to keep the two greatest commandments: The name Catholic Church can mean a visible organization that refers to itself as Catholic, or the invisible Christian Church, viz. ... Pierre Montallier: The Works of Mercy, c. ... The Beatitudes (from Latin, beatitudo, happiness) is the name given to a well-known, and to some, such as Henri Nouwen, definitive and central, portion of the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ... According to the Canonical Gospels, the Ministry of Jesus began when Jesus was around 30 years old, and lasted a period of 1-3 years, with the Synoptic Gospels generally being considered to argue for it having been a period of 1 year, and the Gospel of John arguing for...

• "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.' This is the greatest and the first commandment.
• And, the second is also like the first one, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'"

Like many theological principles in Catholicism, they are expressed in organized, numbered form. There are two sets of these works, the Corporal Works (or Acts) of Mercy, relating to material needs of others, and Spiritual Works (or Acts) of Mercy.

Corporal works of mercy

Corporal works of mercy are those that tend to bodily needs. The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46) enumerates such acts -- though not this precise list -- as the reason for the salvation of the saved, and the omission of them as the reason for damnation. The Sheep and the Goats or The Judgement of the Nations was a discourse of Jesus recorded in the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ...

1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Clothe the naked
4. Shelter the homeless
5. Visit the imprisoned
6. Visit the sick
7. Bury the dead

Spiritual works of mercy

The spiritual acts of mercy provide for the needs of the spirit.

1. Admonish the sinner
2. Instruct the ignorant
3. Counsel the doubtful
4. Comfort the sorrowful
5. Bear wrongs patiently
6. Forgive all injuries
7. Pray for the living and the dead

Nature of the obligation

Because these precepts are affirmative ones, they are always binding but not always operative, for lack of matter or occasion or fitting circumstances.

The actual obligation in a this is dumb.given case depends largely on the degree of distress to be aided, and the capacity or condition of the one whose duty in the matter is in question. There are easily recognizable limits as the performance of the corporal works of mercy are concerned.

Likewise the law imposing spiritual works of mercy is subject in individual instances to important reservations. For example, it may easily happen that an altogether special measure of tact and prudence, or, at any rate, some definite superiority is required for the discharge of the often difficult task of fraternal correction. Similarly to instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, and console the sorrowing is not always within the competency of every one. To bear wrongs patiently, to forgive offences willingly, and to pray for the living and the dead are things from which on due occasion no one may dispense himself on the pleas that he has not some special array of gifts required for their observance. Fraternal correction is the admonishing of ones neighbor by a private individual with the purpose of reforming him or, if possible, preventing his sinful indulgence. ...

External link

• "Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy" at the Catholic Encyclopedia

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.