Lent is the perfect time to grow in holiness and what better way to do so than through works of mercy?  It is a way of truly extending your love of Jesus to people who are dear to Him!  If you need a refresher course on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, refer back to pages 3-5 of your Family Formation Year of Mercy Activity Packet.  From there, you’re ready to go!

We’re convinced that Lent is super-charged with the potential for growth in holiness.  Combine that with tapping into the Year of Mercy graces, and your family can be well on their way to sainthood!   (Really!)   A great way to keep track of this growth and perhaps to make use of your family’s competitive spirit, is to use the Mercy Challenge Cards.  You have a page of them in your packet; feel free to make as many copies as you need to set up a little family competition.

• How many acts of mercy can you do this month?  (Either as individuals or as a family)
• Can you do things that fulfill each of the Corporal and Spiritual Works?

For each act of mercy, fill out a card and post it in a visible place in your home or tuck them into a box to tally later.  While we encourage you to do this challenge all year, this Lent is the perfect time to make this a habit.

Another thing we hope you’ll do is to choose one act of mercy that your family has done and fill out a Mercy Challenge Card to bring back to Family Formation in March.  You’ll not only have a chance to win a prize, but everyone else will benefit by getting a glimpse of how the Works of Mercy play out in your family’s life.  We can all learn from each other’s ideas!

And remember to make time for Confession this month!

A great book that we recommend that can help give your family practical ideas for putting these works of mercy into action is the book You Did It to Me: A Practical Guide to Mercy in Action by Father Michael Gaitley. [COSP families – Don’t forget that your family can win one of these books at our monthly Family Formation gatherings. When you share one thing that your family is doing around The Year of Mercy, your name will be put into a drawing.]