Worthy Brother Knights and Families:
February marks the kick-off to the Lenten Season as we continue our Works of Mercy during this Columbian year. In this manner, one may ask are Lenten sacrifices kindred to Works of Mercy?
Lent is the penitential season in our Catholic faith marked by prayer, fasting and abstinence, and almsgiving. (www.catholicisim.about.com) Mercy, is said to be a virtue influencing one’s will to have compassion for, and, if possible, to alleviate another’s misfortune. It is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that although mercy is as it were the spontaneous product of charity, yet it is to be reckoned a special virtue adequately distinguishable from this latter. In fact the Scholastics in cataloguing it consider it to be referable to the quality of justice mainly because, like justice, it controls relations between distinct persons. (www.newadvent.org; Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.)
The Holy Father indicated in his Lenten Message for 2016 (Papal Lenten Message 2016), that Lent and Mercy indeed go hand-in-hand: “In the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, I asked that ‘the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year be lived more intensity as a privileged moment to celebrate and experienced God’s mercy.” (Ibid.) Pope Francis goes on to conclude that “For all of us, then the season of Lent in this Jubilee Year is a favorable time to overcome our existential alienation by listening to God’s word and by practicing the works of mercy.” (Ibid.)
A great example of Works of Mercy during this Lenten Season is the work of Fr. Gregory Boyle, S.J. Fr. Boyle started an organization named “Homeboy Industries,” a place were former gang members can reinvent themselves, learn life skills, honest work, and know God’s love and mercy that they never knew before. Fr. Boyle’s story is extremely inspiring and I highly recommend his book “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.” The stories are heart wrenching and thought provoking. What I find most inspirational about Fr. Boyle is that he is a well-educated man who could have done anything with this life, but found his calling to administer to our youth. You can visit the website at www.homeboyindustries.org.
We have more dinners slated for the remainder of our Columbian year that will benefit many of our charities (e.g., Cristo Rey High School, Bishop Gallegos Maternity Home, Sacramento Life Center, Loaves & Fishes, Clara’s House, to name a few). I encourage you all to promote and attend our dinners, volunteer at our events, and make this a very spiritual rewarding Lenten Season.
Lewis Muñoz
Grand Knight, Council 953