Sunday (feast day – exempt from Lenten penance)

April 18, 2006

Sunday (feast day – exempt from Lenten penance)

Almsgiving: Day 7

“He said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’” (Luke 14:12-14)

Intentions: That we may fervently and faithfully minister to and pray for those most in need, either materially or spiritually.

Action: Meditate on the fact that Jesus invites us, the spiritually poor, mamed, lame and blind, to the banquet. How can we as Catholic Christians respond Christ’s love, and love our neighbor in the same way, as we are commanded to do (John 15:12)? Contemplate the following seven “Spiritual Works of Mercy”, and how you can undertake them in the real world:

• Instructing the ignorant
• Counseling the doubtful
• Admonishing sinners
• Comforting the afflicted
• Forgiving offences
• Bearing wrongs patiently
• Praying for the living and the dead

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