Objective:
The goal of this session is to teach the middle school youth about sharing the Good News with the poor and will introduce them to the idea of missionary work.
Overview:
One of the ways we are called to evangelize is through works of charity to the poor and less fortunate:
The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these giving, alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God. […] When her mother reproached her for caring for the poor and the sick at home, St. Rose of Lima said to her: “When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2447-2449).