ABOUT THE COVER AND CONTRIBUTORS

BY ZACH STEUF

EVANGELICAL CHARITY • WINTER 2022

A MAGAZINE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF DETROIT

THE COVER

Marker 8.4 of Unleash the Gospel Pastoral Letter is Evangelical Charity, reminding us that “we need to ensure that in ministering to the material needs of others we are also responding to their spiritual thirst for God. Every Catholic charitable work must also be an authentic expression of Catholic faith.” To illustrate the theme of Evangelical Charity, the cover depicts people engaging in acts of service. It represents evangelical charity which requires both serving and loving your neighbor. TO GET TO KNOW OUR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS BETTER, WE ASKED THEM: HOW DO YOU LIVE OUT EVANGELICAL CHARITY?

JOE BOGGS: I try to keep a homeless care kit in arm’s reach whenever I’m driving in my car. If I can pull over, I like to have a conversation and pray with them. Mother Teresa said that the greatest poverty was to feel unwanted and unloved. I think we all can do a better job of making those who live on the streets realize that they too are beloved children of God.

FATHER BONIFACE HICKS: I have made a concerted effort to practice the corporal works of mercy at least a little, but I live most of the time in the spiritual works of mercy. As a spiritual director and seminary professor, I counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners and comfort the sorrowful on a daily basis. As a Benedictine monk, my vocation is also to pray daily for the living and the dead.

DAN KEATING: Works of mercy seem to zigzag in and out of my life, sometimes being very present and other times not much at all. But they have provided times of great joy and gratitude in Christ. I have the privilege now of serving with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in my parish, and this is a great blessing.

CHRIS LEACH: The works of mercy are my way of allowing the love that God shows me to overflow into my friends and neighbors. I love to repeat the maxim: “God can never give enough, he always must give too much!” He is a God of abundance! His love and mercy overflow, and I can help it overflow by giving it away as quickly as he gives to me!

KATE LOCHNER: At this point in my life, when a significant amount of my time is dedicated to caring for my three little kids, I can’t help but think about how the works of mercy come alive in my home on a daily basis. Admittedly, these very tasks of motherhood — the feeding, the clothing, the cleaning and folding, the staying up all night with a sick little one — can feel monotonous and draining. The challenge and the call is to remember there is profound beauty in these works of service. My own constant prayer is that I remember to find the beauty of the moment and to not lose sight of the fact that carrying out the works of mercy starts at home.

FATHER BRIAN MELDRUM: To pray for the living and the dead is a spiritual work of mercy; to bury the dead is a corporal work of mercy. Ministering to the dying and offering a funeral Mass or other Mass intentions for the faithful departed is one way that as a priest I unite myself with Christ’s redeeming work of mercy.

SISTER MARIA PACIS POLAKOVIC: As a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, the spiritual and corporal works are essential in our lives! Both communally and individually, the sisters seek to be instruments of unity and mercy in the Church by responding to the various conditions of misery — physical, spiritual, psychological, moral and intellectual — with which man is faced today. Knowing ourselves to have been recipients of God’s great mercy, we seek to bring his mercy to others. This starts in our common lives together through our striving to live out the little virtues of humility, patience, trust, courtesy, kindness, gentleness, simplicity and forbearance. From there, as we strive to act mercifully in our common living, our works of mercy flow out in our various apostolates, as our communion gives impetus to our mission. What does this mean? Mercy starts at home!

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20

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