Members of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy recognize our debt to Divine Mercy — that each of us has received tremendous unspeakable Mercy from Jesus Christ, who is Mercy Incarnate. He has forgiven the sin of abortion, and all the other sins that we have entrusted to Him when we made our confession.
But Jesus expects us to be instruments of His Divine Mercy as well. We wants us to practice mercy in our own lives through living the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.
Corporal Works of Mercy: to feed the hungry; to give drink to the thirsty; to clothe the naked; to shelter the homeless; to visit the sick; to visit the imprisoned; to bury the dead.
Spiritual Works of Mercy: to instruct the ignorant; to counsel the doubtful; to admonish the sinner; to comfort the sorrowful; to bear wrongs patiently; to forgive injuries; to pray for the living and the dead.
Each of us makes a commitment, before God, to try to live Mercy toward others. What are some of the special and particular ways that we are to live Mercy?
- Forgiving injuries, whether they were committed by family members, friends, co-workers, spouses, an abortionist — we forgive, and we pray for healing and reconciliation with God for those who have hurt us.
- Reaching out to other post-abortive persons with God’s Love and Mercy, whether through Rachel’s Vineyard and other post-abortion ministries, or just through our every day contact with others.
- Pro-Life outreach, especially to prevent other young women and men from making the same kind of mistakes that we made.
- Assisting the Poor, the Elderly, Children (especially children in need of faith, hope and love), teaching catechism, etc.
We are not expected to practice all of these, but we do commit to the Lord that we will try to live always in His Divine Mercy, and to share that Mercy with others!