Too many ideas, not enough time!

It’s 11 o’clock in the evening, and I am just now unwinding from my day. It seems the days are getting longer, while at the same time the days are going by faster. Weird, huh? Anyway, the long day involved a lot of time by myself, which leads to lots of different ideas for my blog. But when that happens, I never have the time to write in detail about any of them. My memory is so bad that I can’t remember half of what I thought about yesterday, so many of my “great blog ideas” remain just ideas.

Some of the ideas I had today that I thought were good blog topics were;

The difference between “Catechism” (the classes I attended most Saturday mornings as a kid to teach us about the Catholic faith) and CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) classes. I may still revisit this topic next week. I want to be charitable, so I really have to think more about what I want to say. Suffice it to say right now that there is a huge difference between the two, in my opinion.

How I felt about Lent as a kid (and for many of my adult years) versus how I feel about it now. It’s not supposed to be “doom and gloom”—it’s supposed to be about getting closer to Christ and preparing to share in the promise of the Resurrection.

Comparing the “styles” and “charisms” of all the different priests I encounter in any different week.

I decided that for the next few days (depending on how much I can get done in any given day) I would like to share the information I found in a leaflet I found in the front of a church in Fresno I attended this week. The leaflet is copyrighted by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception out of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its title is “Deeds of Mercy: A New Look at the Works of Mercy”.

The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, as we learned in Catechism lessons in our childhood, are our Christian duty. It’s also a means of satisfying the temporal punishment due to sin (partial indulgences). It’s behaving in a Christ-like manner. I’ll just list the Works of Mercy tonight. Over the next few days, I’ll cover them in a little more thoughtful manner. (Quite frankly, I’m getting too tired to continue tonight!)

The Spiritual Works of Mercy:
Admonish the sinner
Instruct the uninformed
Counsel the doubtful
Comfort the sorrowful
Bear wrongs patiently
Forgive offenses
Pray for the living and the dead

The Corporal Works of Mercy:
Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Clothe the naked
Shelter the homeless
Comfort the imprisoned
Visit the sick
Bury the dead

I’ll tackle the Spiritual Works of Mercy tomorrow, God (and time) willing.

Good night for now.