Yesterday I wrote about the Corporal Works of Mercy. We Lay Dominicans like to think of them as the Franciscan Works of Mercy. There are also what we call the Dominican Works of Mercy. They are popularly known as the Spiritual Works of Mercy:
- To instruct the ignorant;
- To counsel the doubtful;
- To admonish sinners;
- To bear wrongs patiently;
- To forgive offences willingly;
- To comfort the afflicted;
- To pray for the living and the dead.
These seem easy for my "cloistered brothers" to do. They instruct the ignorant because they facilitate a couple of Bible studies and conduct RCIA classes. For sure they counsel the doubtful; we do that for each other, never mind others who approach them. I've been admonished myself, more than once for not being all that I should be. "I am broken!"
My "cloistered brothers" bear many, many wrongs patiently. They have no choice. And they have to forgive offences willingly because they've been on the other side. They are cloistered because they are offenders. Following this train of thought, they know to comfort the afflicted. They at times need the comfort, so certainly they do what they can.
Pray they do. They are quite efficacious prayer warriors because Psalm 69:33.
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