7 simple works of mercy

When the Cullen family went to Sunday Mass at St. Mary’s Church, we always sat in the same area — the south wing.

That was the only vantage point to see the Corporal Works of Mercy, seven simple stained glass windows high above the altar facing us from the north. When Msgr. Ivis’s sermons started to wander, as they tended to, so would my thoughts. In the middle of my daydreaming I’d invariably be attracted to those seven illustrated messages of charity.

They are part of the remarkable stained glass windows in St. Mary’s, somewhat controversial when they were installed in the 1950s and 60s, because they were contemporary. The sinners were dressed like every day Americans, not as some distant tribe wearing flowing robes from 2,000 years ago, as depicted in most church art.

They come from the teachings of Christ as to how we should treat our fellow humans, as if they were Christ in disguise.

The Presentation Sisters taught us these guides when we were in grade school at St. Mary’s. I don’t hear much about these seven simple acts of kindness any more. They’re acts anyone can do, regardless of wealth or station in life. They don’t cost any money, just a kind thought every now and then.

These basic acts of compassion:

Feed the hungry.

Give drink to the thirsty.

Clothe the naked.

Shelter the homeless.

Visit the prisoner.

Visit the sick.

Bury the dead.

These are some pretty good words to live by. Our world would be a lot better place if we followed them.