Feed the Hungry – Collect food for the poor. Cook dinner for your family. Serve a snack to your classmates. Share your treat with your sister or brother. Buy or make a birthday cake for a friend. Set the table for a meal. Wash the dishes or table after the meal. Help do the grocery shopping. Bring the groceries from the car into the house and put them away. Work in a cafeteria at school or work. Help serve food at a soup kitchen. Take some of your allowance and give it to the poor for food.
Give Drink to the Thirsty – Pour a drink for a child. Boost a child up to a fountain. Bring a drink to someone working in the yard. Hand a cup of water to someone running a race. Buy a drink for a friend. Mix up the drinks for dinner time. Serve drinks at a party. Feed a bottle to a baby. Bring a drink to mom or dad when they are thirsty. Don’t take a long shower, help conserve on water. Give water to your pet or animals that you are raising. Drink all that is your bottle or soda can, don’t waste the drink.
Clothe the Naked – Help fold the laundry. Help put away the laundry. Do the ironing. Help sew / mend some clothing. Collect clothing for the poor. Share your clothes with a brother or sister. Help your little brother or sister get dressed. Empty the diaper pail. Wash your bed sheets. Make your brother or sister bed. Put a blanket on your sleeping sibling to keep them warm. Tie your little brother or sister’s shoes.
Shelter the Homeless – Clean your bedroom. Vacuum the carpets. Help fix the shingles on your roof. Clean out the gutters on your roof. Mow your lawn, or someone else’s for free. Give money to the poor. Help build a house for the poor. Give up your bed for a visiting relative. Help plant bulbs, flowers, or trees in the yard. Clean out the fish tank. Pick up the dog poop from the yard. Pick up the trash from the yard.
Visit the Imprisoned (injured) – Take communion to someone in jail (only adults can do this). Visit an elderly relative who doesn’t get out of the house much. Visit an elderly relative in a nursing home. Walk your injured neighbor’s dog. Take a friend shopping with you (that doesn’t get out much). Baby-sit your neighbor’s children while the parents are injured. Feed your neighbor’s pets while they are in the hospital. Help your injured neighbor clean their garage. Help your injured neighbor wash their car. Bake cookies for a military person overseas / in the war. Do the dusting in your grandparents’ or a relatives’ home. Wash the dishes for your injured friend. Sweep off your elderly neighbor’s porch.
Visit the Sick – Send a card to a sick relative. Play cards with someone in the hospital. Read a book to a child in the hospital. Cut the food and feed someone who needs help. Take soup to grandparent or an ailing relative. Mow the lawn for a neighbor who is injured. Visit a friend who is sick or injured. Lend a hand to someone getting in or out of a car after surgery, or hold open a door. Spend time talking on the phone to a friend who is hurt. Carry the books of someone on crutches. Bandage a brother or sister’s cut / scrape. Give a blanket or a pillow to a sick parent.
Bury the Dead – attend a funeral, place flowers on a grave, visit a cemetery with a friend who lost someone, bring food to a grieving family, send a card to the family of someone who died, etc. Attend a funeral at the cemetery. Go to a funeral Mass. Help carry the casket at a funeral. Attend a wake with a grieving friend. Visit a cemetery / columbarium and say a prayer for someone there. Pick up trash in the cemetery area. Help clean a gravesite. Place flags on the graves of veterans on special days. Place flowers on a grave. Visit a cemetery with a friend who lost someone they loved. Bring food to a family grieving the loss of a loved one. Send a card to the family of someone who died.
Spiritual Works of Mercy
Admonish the Sinner – Gently correct a friend who is committing a sin. Encourage your friend not to bully by calling names or spreading gossip. Speak up and defend your faith when you hear someone slander God, a Saint, or the Church. Speak out when you see someone abuse a pet. Speak out when you see someone abuse a child. Tell your friend to stop stealing because you don’t want to see them in jail. Don’t listen to a friend brag about the crimes they committed; instead tell them that they will have a lot of punishment to work off. Don’t encourage someone to gossip; instead change the subject. Advise your friend to wish someone well rather than to say “good luck.” Explain to your friend that we should not read or believe in horoscopes. This is sinful. Tell your friend not to take God’s name in vain or to use swear words. Ask your friend or sister / brother not to talk to you during the
Mass.
You don’t want to miss any part of the Mass, and it is sinful to play around at
Mass.
Instruct the Ignorant– Tell your brother that lying is a sin. Instruct your brother or sister about our religion. Invite someone to Mass with you. Teach someone about the sacraments. Help your friend with their homework. Explain to someone that God is watching our every action. Try to convince a friend to walk away from an argument before it becomes a fight. Teach someone to be kind to others. Visit the grotto and tell someone about Mary and St. Bernadette. Advise a friend to turn to the catechism for answers to questions about our faith. Gently correct a non-Catholic who believes something about Catholics that is not true. Remind your friend which days are Holy Days of Obligation so that they don’t miss Mass and commit a sin. Turn the channel when something immoral appears on the T.V. Tell your sister / brother / friend that watching nudity or listening to dirty jokes is sinful.
Counsel the Doubtful – Encourage your friend not to give up hope. Answer questions people have about your faith. Give advice to a friend about faith and morals. Listen to and advise a confused friend. Encourage someone to seek help from professionals when needed. Encourage someone to read the bible. Be a consoling shoulder to a friend who is doubting their faith. Give a prayer book or a bible to someone who doesn’t have one. Advise your friend to pray when they want an answer to a confusing situation. Help your friend find an answer to a question. Lead by example…show someone the way to live a Christian life. Remind your friend that God loves everyone and will forgive anything, no matter what they did, so long as they say sorry.
Comfort the Sorrowful – Give someone a hug or a tissue when they cry. Accompany a friend to a funeral service. Visit a friend who is felling sad and staying home. Take a baked good to the new neighbor who is feeling lonely. Share the love of God and tell the sad person that God loves him or her. Smile at someone to brighten their day. Talk to someone your age who looks lonely. Make a new friend. Play with a new classmate. Help make he or she feel welcome in the new school. Make a card to cheer up a friend. Draw and send a picture to a grieving relative. Share a nice story about the dead person with their family and friends.
Bear Wrongs Patiently – Don’t get mad when your little brother breaks your toy. Don’t hate your parents when they break promises to you. Don’t try to get even with someone who has hurt or insulted you. Smile when someone is mean to you. Don’t insist on always being right. Don’t blame God when something goes wrong. Turn to God with your problems. Pray and ask for His help and guidance. Don’t get upset when someone is seated before you at a restaurant. Don’t be upset when someone is chosen for the game before you. Don’t be upset when someone gets a better grade than you when you feel that you should have been given a better one. When your brother or sister injures you, talk to them instead of hitting back. Show patience when your brother or sister takes something of yours. Don’t be quick to tell your parents; wait it out.
Forgive all Injuries – Forgive your friend when they lie about you. Continue to be their friend by giving them another chance. Turn the other cheek. When someone bumps you in the hall – don’t scream ouch, just shrug it off and move on. When someone insults you, don’t insult them. If someone steals from you, don’t insist on repayment. If someone hurts one of your family members, don’t hold a grudge. If your friend blames you for something you didn’t do, don’t try to get even, just forgive and forget. If someone cheated in the game, don’t insist that you won, just let it go. If someone borrowed something and broke it, forgive them and don’t insist on a replacement. When a non-Catholic says something evil about you and your faith, don’t get mad. Forgive their ignorance. Don’t condemn anyone or try to find fault. Forgive those who insult you for what you look like or wear.
Pray for the Living and the Dead – Attend a funeral. Pray for those who need something (food, money, job, etc.) at
Mass.
Say daily prayers for family and friends. Attend extra Masses. Say your rosary daily. Attend a healing service to pray for the sick. Have a Mass said for a parent or grandparent that died. Pray for those who were killed in a tragic event or storm. Pray for the families who lost a loved one to a tragic event or storm. Pray for our nation and all world leaders to be honest and lead well. Pray for the Pope, clergy, and all of our church leaders. Pray for the Souls in Purgatory.