On
Works and Alms
Argument.— He Powerfully
Exhorts to the Manifestation of Faith by Works, and Enforces the Wisdom of
Offerings to the Church and of Bounty to the Poor as the Best Investment of a
Christian's Estate. This He Proves Out of Many Scriptures.
1. Many and great, beloved
brethren, are the divine benefits wherewith the large and abundant mercy of God
the Father and Christ both has laboured and is always labouring for our
salvation: that the Father sent the Son to preserve us and give us life, in
order that He might restore us; and that the Son was willing to be sent and to
become the Son of man, that He might make us sons of God; humbled Himself, that
He might raise up the people who before were prostrate; was wounded that He
might heal our wounds; served, that He might draw out to liberty those who were
in bondage; underwent death, that He might set forth immortality to mortals.
These are many and great boons of divine compassion. But, moreover, what is
that providence, and how great the clemency, that by a plan of salvation it is
provided for us, that more abundant care should be taken for preserving man
after he is already redeemed! For when the Lord at His advent had cured those
wounds which Adam had borne, and had healed the old poisons of the serpent, He
gave a law to the sound man and bade him sin no more, lest a worse thing should
befall the sinner. We had been limited and shut up into a narrow space by the
commandment of innocence. Nor would the infirmity and weakness of human frailty
have any resource, unless the divine mercy, coming once more in aid, should
open some way of securing salvation by pointing out works of justice and mercy,
so that by almsgiving we may wash away whatever foulness we subsequently
contract.
2. The Holy Spirit speaks in the sacred Scriptures, and says, By almsgiving and faith sins are purged. Not assuredly those sins which had been previously contracted, for those are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ. Moreover, He says again, As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving quenches sin. Sirach 3:30 Here also it is shown and proved, that as in the layer of saving water the fire of Gehenna is extinguished, so by almsgiving and works of righteousness the flame of sins is subdued. And because in baptism remission of sins is granted once for all, constant and ceaseless labour, following the likeness of baptism, once again bestows the mercy of God. The Lord teaches this also in the Gospel. For when the disciples were pointed out, as eating and not first washing their hands, He replied and said, He that made that which is within, made also that which is without. But give alms, and behold all things are clean unto you; Luke 11:41 teaching hereby and showing, that not the hands are to be washed, but the heart, and that the foulness from inside is to be done away rather than that from outside; but that he who shall have cleansed what is within has cleansed also that which is without; and that if the mind is cleansed, a man has begun to be clean also in skin and body. Further, admonishing, and showing whence we may be clean and purged, He added that alms must be given. He who is pitiful teaches and warns us that pity must be shown; and because He seeks to save those whom at a great cost He has redeemed, He teaches that those who, after the grace of baptism, have become foul, may once more be cleansed.
3. Let us then
acknowledge, beloved brethren, the wholesome gift of the divine mercy; and let
us, who cannot be without some wound of conscience, heal our wounds by the
spiritual remedies for the cleansing and purging of our sins. Nor let any one
so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in
dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be
applied to his wounds; since it is written, Who shall boast that he has a clean
heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins? Proverbs 20:9 And again, in his epistle, John lays it down, and
says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us. But if no one can be without sin, and whoever should say that he is
without fault is either proud or foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine
mercy, which, knowing that there are still found some wounds in those that have
been healed, even after their healing, has given wholesome remedies for the
curing and healing of their wounds anew!
4. Finally, beloved
brethren, the divine admonition in the Scriptures, as well old as new, has
never failed, has never been silent in urging God's people always and
everywhere to works of mercy; and in the strain and exhortation of the Holy
Spirit, every one who is instructed into the hope of the heavenly kingdom is
commanded to give alms. God commands and prescribes to Isaiah: Cry, says He,
with strength, and spare not. Lift up your voice as a trumpet, and declare to
my people their transgressions, and to the house of Jacob their sins. Isaiah
58:1 And when He had commanded their sins to be charged upon them, and with the
full force of His indignation had set forth their iniquities, and had said,
that not even though they should use supplications, and prayers, and fastings,
should they be able to make atonement for their sins; nor, if they were clothed
in sackcloth and ashes, be able to soften God's anger, yet in the last part
showing that God can be appeased by almsgiving alone, he added, saying, Break
your bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are without a home into your
house. If you see the naked, clothe him; and despise not the household of your
own seed. Then shall your light break forth in season, and your garments shall
arise speedily; and righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God
shall surround you. Then shall you cry, and God shall hear you; while yet you
are speaking, He shall say, Here I am. Isaiah 58:1-9
5. The remedies for
propitiating God are given in the words of God Himself; the divine instructions
have taught what sinners ought to do, that by works of righteousness God is
satisfied, that with the deserts of mercy sins are cleansed. And in Solomon we
read, Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and these shall intercede for you
from all evil. Sirach 22:12 And again: Whoever stops his ears that he may not
hear the weak, he also shall call upon God, and there will be none to hear him.
Proverbs 21:13 For he shall not be able to deserve the mercy of the Lord, who
himself shall not have been merciful; nor shall he obtain anything from the
divine pity in his prayers, who shall not have been humane towards the poor
man's prayer. And this also the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, and proves,
saying, Blessed is he that considers of the poor and needy; the Lord will
deliver him in the evil day. Remembering which precepts, Daniel, when king
Nebuchodonosor was in anxiety, being frightened by an adverse dream, gave him, for
the turning away of evils, a remedy to obtain the divine help, saying,
Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you; and redeem your sins by
almsgivings, and your unrighteousness by mercies to the poor, and God will be
patient to your sins. Daniel 4:27 And as the king did not obey him, he
underwent the misfortunes and mischiefs which he had seen, and which he might
have escaped and avoided had he redeemed his sins by almsgiving. Raphael the
angel also witnesses the like, and exhorts that alms should be freely and
liberally bestowed, saying, Prayer is good, with fasting and alms; because alms
does deliver from death, and it purges away sins. Tobit 12:8-9 He shows that
our prayers and fastings are of less avail, unless they are aided by almsgiving;
that entreaties alone are of little force to obtain what they seek, unless they
be made sufficient by the addition of deeds and good works. The angel reveals,
and manifests, and certifies that our petitions become efficacious by
almsgiving, that life is redeemed from dangers by almsgiving, that souls are
delivered from death by almsgiving.
6. Neither, beloved
brethren, are we so bringing forward these things, as that we should not prove
what Raphael the angel said, by the testimony of the truth. In the Acts of the
Apostles the faith of the fact is established; and that souls are delivered by
almsgiving not only from the second, but from the first death, is discovered by
the evidence of a matter accomplished and completed. When Tabitha, being
greatly given to good works and to bestowing alms, fell sick and died, Peter
was summoned to her lifeless body; and when he, with apostolic humanity, had
come in haste, there stood around him widows weeping and entreating, showing
the cloaks, and coats, and all the garments which they had previously received,
and praying for the deceased not by their words, but by her own deeds. Peter
felt that what was asked in such a way might be obtained, and that Christ's aid
would not be wanting to the petitioners, since He Himself was clothed in the
clothing of the widows. When, therefore, falling on his knees, he had prayed,
and— fit advocate for the widows and poor— had brought to the Lord the prayers
entrusted to him, turning to the body, which was now lying washed on the bier,
he said, Tabitha, in the name of Jesus Christ, arise! Acts 9:40 Nor did He fail
to bring aid to Peter, who had said in the Gospel, that whatever should be
asked in His name should be given. Therefore death is suspended, and the spirit
is restored, and, to the marvel and astonishment of all, the revived body is
quickened into this worldly light once more; so effectual were the merits of
mercy, so much did righteous works avail! She who had conferred upon suffering
widows the help needful to live, deserved to be recalled to life by the widows'
petition.
7. Therefore in the
Gospel, the Lord, the Teacher of our life and Master of eternal salvation,
quickening the assembly of believers, and providing for them for ever when
quickened, among His divine commands and precepts of heaven, commands and
prescribes nothing more frequently than that we should devote ourselves to
almsgiving, and not depend on earthly possessions, but rather lay up heavenly
treasures. Sell, says He, your goods, and give alms. Luke 12:33 And again: Lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust do corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. Matthew 6:19-21 And when He wished to set forth a man perfect and
complete by the observation of the law, He said, If you will be perfect, go and
sell that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in
heaven; and come and follow me. Matthew 19:21 Moreover, in another place He
says that a merchant of the heavenly grace, and a gainer of eternal salvation,
ought to purchase the precious pearl— that is, eternal life— at the price of
the blood of Christ, from the amount of his patrimony, parting with all his
wealth for it. He says: The kingdom of heaven is like a merchantman seeking
goodly pearls. And when he found a precious pearl, he went away and sold all
that he had, and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46
8. In fine, He calls those
the children of Abraham whom He sees to be laborious in aiding and nourishing
the poor. For when Zacchaeus said, Behold, the half of my goods I give to the
poor; and if I have done any wrong to any man, I restore fourfold, Jesus
answered and said, That salvation has this day come to this house, for that he
also is a son of Abraham. Luke 19:8-9 For if Abraham believed in God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness, certainly he who gives alms according
to God's precept believes in God, and he who has the truth of faith maintains
the fear of God; moreover, he who maintains the fear of God considers God in
showing mercy to the poor. For he labours thus because he believes— because he
knows that what is foretold by God's word is true, and that the Holy Scripture
cannot lie— that unfruitful trees, that is, unproductive men, are cut off and
cast into the fire, but that the merciful are called into the kingdom. He also,
in another place, calls laborious and fruitful men faithful; but He denies
faith to unfruitful and barren ones, saying, If you have not been faithful in
the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to you that which is true? And if you
have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that
which is your own? Luke 16:11-12
9. If you dread and fear,
lest, if you begin to act thus abundantly, your patrimony being exhausted with
your liberal dealing, you may perchance be reduced to poverty; be of good
courage in this respect, be free from care: that cannot be exhausted whence the
service of Christ is supplied, whence the heavenly work is celebrated. Neither
do I vouch for this on my own authority; but I promise it on the faith of the
Holy Scriptures, and on the authority of the divine promise. The Holy Spirit
speaks by Solomon, and says, He that gives unto the poor shall never lack, but
he that turns away his eye shall be in great poverty; showing that the merciful and those who do good works cannot
want, but rather that the sparing and barren hereafter come to want. Moreover,
the blessed Apostle Paul, full of the grace of the Lord's inspiration, says: He
that ministers seed to the sower, shall both minister bread for your food, and
shall multiply your seed sown, and shall increase the growth of the fruits of
your righteousness, that in all things you may be enriched. 2 Corinthians 9:10
And again: The administration of this service shall not only supply the wants
of the saints, but shall be abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; 2 Corinthians 9:12 because, while thanks are
directed to God for our almsgivings and labours, by the prayer of the poor, the
wealth of the doer is increased by the retribution of God. And the Lord in the
Gospel, already considering the hearts of men of this kind, and with prescient
voice denouncing faithless and unbelieving men, bears witness, and says: Take
no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal
shall we be clothed? For these things the Gentiles seek. And your Father knows
that you have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:31-33 He
says that all these things shall be added and given to them who seek the
kingdom and righteousness of God. For the Lord says, that when the day of
judgment shall come, those who have laboured in His Church are admitted to
receive the kingdom.
10. You are afraid lest
perchance your estate should fail, if you begin to act liberally from it; and
you do not know, miserable man that you are, that while you are fearing lest
your family property should fail you, life itself, and salvation, are failing;
and while you are anxious lest any of your wealth should be diminished, you do
not see that you yourself are being diminished, in that you are a lover of
mammon more than of your own soul; and while you fear, lest for the sake of
yourself, you should lose your patrimony, you yourself are perishing for the
sake of your patrimony. And therefore the apostle well exclaims, and says: We
brought nothing into this world, neither indeed can we carry anything out.
Therefore, having food and clothing, let us therewith be content. For they who
will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many and hurtful
desires, which drown a man in perdition and in destruction. For covetousness is
a root of all evils, which some desiring, have made shipwreck from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:7-10
11. Are you afraid that
your patrimony perchance may fall short, if you should begin to do liberally
from it? Yet when has it ever happened that resources could fail the righteous
man, since it is written, The Lord will not slay with famine the righteous
soul? Proverbs 10:3 Elias in the desert
is fed by the ministry of ravens; and a meal from heaven is made ready for
Daniel in the den, when shut up by the king's command for a prey to the lions;
and you are afraid that food should be wanting to you, labouring and deserving
well of the Lord, although He Himself in the Gospel bears witness, for the
rebuke of those whose mind is doubtful and faith small, and says: Behold the
fowls of heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your
heavenly Father feeds them: are you not of more value than they? Matthew 5:26 God feeds the fowls, and daily
food is afforded to the sparrows; and to creatures which have no sense of
things divine there is no want of drink or food. Do you think that to a
Christian— do you think that to a servant of the Lord— do you think that to one
given up to good works— do you think that to one that is dear to his Lord,
anything will be wanting?
12. Unless you imagine
that he who feeds Christ is not himself fed by Christ, or that earthly things
will be wanting to those to whom heavenly and divine things are given, whence
this unbelieving thought, whence this impious and sacrilegious consideration?
What does a faithless heart do in the home of faith? Why is he who does not
altogether trust in Christ named and called a Christian? The name of Pharisee
is more fitting for you. For when in the Gospel the Lord was discoursing
concerning almsgiving, and faithfully and wholesomely warned us to make to
ourselves friends of our earthly lucre by provident good works, who might
afterwards receive us into eternal dwellings, the Scripture added after this,
and said, But the Pharisees heard all these things, who were very covetous, and
they derided Him. Luke 16:14 Some suchlike we see now in the Church, whose
closed ears and darkened hearts admit no light from spiritual and saving
warnings, of whom we need not wonder that they contemn the servant in his
discourses, when we see the Lord Himself despised by such.
13. Wherefore do you
applaud yourself in those vain and silly conceits, as if you were withheld from
good works by fear and solicitude for the future? Why do you lay out before you
certain shadows and omens of a vain excuse? Yea, confess what is the truth; and
since you cannot deceive those who know, utter forth the secret and hidden
things of your mind. The gloom of barrenness has besieged your mind; and while
the light of truth has departed thence, the deep and profound darkness of
avarice has blinded your carnal heart. You are the captive and slave of your
money; you are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness; and you whom
Christ had once loosed, are once more in chains. You keep your money, which,
when kept, does not keep you. You heap up a patrimony which burdens your with
its weight; and you do not remember what God answered to the rich man, who
boasted with a foolish exultation of the abundance of his exuberant harvest:
You fool, said He, this night your soul is required of you; then whose shall
those things be which you have provided?
Luke 12:20 Why do you watch in loneliness over your riches? Why for your
punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony, that, in proportion as
you are rich in this world, you may become poor to God? Divide your returns
with the Lord your God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner
with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir
with Him in His heavenly kingdom.
14. You are mistaken, and
are deceived, whosoever you are, that think yourself rich in this world. Listen
to the voice of your Lord in the Apocalypse, rebuking men of your stamp with
righteous reproaches: You say, says He, I am rich, and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the
fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and
that the shame of your nakedness may not appear in you; and anoint your eyes
with eye-salve, that you may see. Revelation 3:17-18 You therefore, who are
rich and wealthy, buy for yourself of Christ gold tried by fire; that you may
be pure gold, with your filth burnt out as if by fire, if you are purged by
almsgiving and righteous works. Buy for yourself white raiment, that you who
had been naked according to Adam, and were before frightful and unseemly, may
be clothed with the white garment of Christ. And you who are a wealthy and rich
matron in Christ's Church, anoint your eyes, not with the collyrium of the
devil, but with Christ's eye-salve, that you may be able to attain to see God,
by deserving well of God, both by good works and character.
15. But you who are such
as this, cannot labour in the Church. For your eyes, overcast with the gloom of
blackness, and shadowed in night, do not see the needy and poor. You are
wealthy and rich, and do you think that you celebrate the Lord's Supper, not at
all considering the offering, who come to the Lord's Supper Without a
sacrifice, and yet take part of the sacrifice which the poor man has offered?
Consider in the Gospel the widow that remembered the heavenly precepts, doing
good even amidst the difficulties and straits of poverty, casting two mites,
which were all that she had, into the treasury; whom when the Lord observed and
saw, regarding her work not for its abundance, but for its intention, and
considering not how much, but from how much, she had given, He answered and
said, Verily I say unto you, that that widow has cast in more than they all
into the offerings of God. For all these have, of that which they had in
abundance, cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penury has cast in
all the living that she had, Luke 21:3-4 Greatly blessed and glorious woman,
who even before the day of judgment hast merited to be praised by the voice of
the Judge! Let the rich be ashamed of their barrenness and unbelief. The widow,
the widow needy in means, is found rich in works. And although everything that
is given is conferred upon widows and orphans, she gives, whom it behooved to
receive, that we may know thence what punishment, awaits the barren rich man,
when by this very instance even the poor ought to labour in good works. And in
order that we may understand that their labours are given to God, and that
whoever performs them deserves well of the Lord, Christ calls this the
offerings of God, and intimates that the widow has cast in two farthings into
the offerings of God, that it may be more abundantly evident that he who has
pity on the poor lends to God.
16. But neither let the
consideration, dearest brethren, restrain and recall the Christian from good
and righteous works, that any one should fancy that he could be excused for the
benefit of his children; since in spiritual expenditure we ought to think of
Christ, who has declared that He receives them; and not prefer our
fellow-servants, but the Lord, to our children, since He Himself instructs and
warns us, saying, He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me, and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew
10:37 Also in Deuteronomy, for the strengthening of faith and the love of God,
similar things are written: Who say, he says, unto their father or mother, I
have not known you; neither did they acknowledge their children, these have
observed Your words, and kept Your covenant. Deuteronomy 33:9 For if we love
God with our whole heart, we ought not to prefer either our parents or children
to God. And this also John lays down in his epistle, that the love of God is
not in them whom we see unwilling to labour for the poor. Whoso, says he, has
this world's goods, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels
from him, how dwells the love of God in him?
1 John 3:17 For if by almsgiving to the poor we are lending to God— and
when it is given to the least it is given to Christ— there is no ground for any
one preferring earthly things to heavenly, nor for considering human things
before divine.
17. Thus that widow in the
third book of Kings, when in the drought and famine, having consumed
everything, she had made of the little meal and oil which was left, a cake upon
the ashes, and, having used this, was about to die with her children, Elias
came and asked that something should first be given him to eat, and then of
what remained that she and her children should eat. Nor did she hesitate to
obey; nor did the mother prefer her children to Elias in her hunger and
poverty. Yea, there is done in God's sight a thing that pleases God: promptly
and liberally is presented what is asked for, Neither is it a portion out of
abundance, but the whole out of a little, that is given, and another is fed
before her hungry children; nor in penury and want is food thought of before
mercy; so that while in a saving work the life according to the flesh is
contemned, the soul according to the spirit is preserved. Therefore Elias,
being the type of Christ, and showing that according to His mercy He returns to
each their reward, answered and said: Thus says the Lord, The vessel of meal
shall not fail, and the cruse of oil shall not be diminished, until the day
that the Lord gives rain upon the earth. 1 Kings 17:14 According to her faith
in the divine promise, those things which she gave were multiplied and heaped
up to the widow; and her righteous works and deserts of mercy taking
augmentations and increase, the vessels of meal and oil were filled. Nor did
the mother take away from her children what she gave to Elias, but rather she
conferred upon her children what she did kindly and piously. And she did not as
yet know Christ; she had not yet heard His precepts; she did not, as redeemed
by His cross and passion, repay meat and drink for His blood. So that from this
it may appear how much he sins in the Church, who, preferring himself and his
children to Christ, preserves his wealth, and does not share an abundant estate
with the poverty of the needy.
18. Moreover, also, (you
say) there are many children at home; and the multitude of your children
prevents you from giving yourself freely to good works. And yet on this very
account you ought to labour the more, for the reason that you are the father of
many pledges. There are the more for whom you must beseech the Lord. The sins
of many have to be redeemed, the consciences of many to be cleansed, the souls
of many to be liberated. As in this worldly life, in the nourishment and
bringing up of children, the larger the number the greater also is the expense;
so also in the spiritual and heavenly life, the larger the number of children
you have, the greater ought to be the outlay of your labours. Thus also Job
offered numerous sacrifices on behalf of his children; and as large as was the
number of the pledges in his home, so large also was the number of victims
given to God. And since there cannot daily fail to be sins committed in the
sight of God, there wanted not daily sacrifices wherewith the sins might be
cleansed away. The Holy Scripture proves this, saying: Job, a true and
righteous man, had seven sons and three daughters, and cleansed them, offering
for them victims to God according to the number of them, and for their sins one
calf. If, then, you truly love your children, if you show to them the full and
paternal sweetness of love, you ought to be the more charitable, that by your
righteous works you may commend your children to God.
19. Neither should you
think that he is father to your children who is both changeable and infirm, but
you should obtain Him who is the eternal and unchanging Father of spiritual
children. Assign to Him your wealth which you are saving up for your heirs. Let
Him be the guardian for your children; let Him be their trustee; let Him be
their protector, by His divine majesty, against all worldly injuries. The state
neither takes away the property entrusted to God, nor does the exchequer
intrude on it, nor does any forensic calumny overthrow it. That inheritance is
placed in security which is kept under the guardianship of God. This is to
provide for one's dear pledges for the coming time; this is with paternal
affection to take care for one's future heirs, according to the faith of the
Holy Scripture, which says: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed wanting bread. All the day long he is
merciful, and lends; and his seed is blessed. And again: He who walks without
reproach in his integrity shall leave blessed children after him. Proverbs 20:7
Therefore you are an unfair and traitorous father, unless you faithfully
consult for your children, unless you look forward to preserve them in religion
and true piety. You who are careful rather for their earthly than for their
heavenly estate, rather to commend your children to the devil than to Christ,
are sinning twice, and allowing a double and twofold crime, both in not
providing for your children the aid of God their Father, and in teaching your
children to love their property more than Christ.
20. Be rather such a
father to your children as was Tobias. Give useful and saving precepts to your
pledges, such as he gave to his son; command your children what he also
commanded his son, saying: And now, my son, I command you, serve God in truth,
and do before Him that which pleases Him; and command your sons, that they
exercise righteousness and alms, and be mindful of God, and bless His name
always. Tobit 14:10-11 And again: All the days of your life, most dear son,
have God in your mind, and be not willing to transgress His commandments. Do
righteousness all the days of your life, and be not willing to walk in the way
of iniquity; because if you deal truly, there will be respect of your works.
Give alms of your substance, and turn not away your face from any poor man. So
shall it be, that neither shall the face of God be turned away from you. As you
have, my son, so do. If your substance is abundant, give alms of it the more.
If you have little, communicate of that little. And fear not when you do alms;
for you lay up a good reward for yourself against the day of necessity, because
that alms do deliver from death, and suffers not to come into Gehenna. Alms is
a good gift to all that give it, in the sight of the most high God. Tobit
4:5-11
21. What sort of gift is
it, beloved brethren, whose setting forth is celebrated in the sight of God?
If, in a gift of the Gentiles, it seems a great and glorious thing to have
proconsuls or emperors present, and the preparation and display is the greater
among the givers, in order that they may please the higher classes; how much
more illustrious and greater is the glory to have God and Christ as the
spectators of the gift! How much more sumptuous the preparation and more
liberal the expense to be set forth in that case, when the powers of heaven
assemble to the spectacle, when all the angels come together: where it is not a
four-horsed chariot or a consulship that is sought for the giver, but life
eternal is bestowed; nor is the empty and fleeting favour of the rabble grasped
at, but the perpetual reward of the kingdom of heaven is received!
22. And that the indolent
and the barren, and those, who by their covetousness for money do nothing in
respect of the fruit of their salvation, may be the more ashamed, and that the
blush of dishonour and disgrace may the more strike upon their sordid
conscience, let each one place before his eyes the devil with his servants,
that is, with the people of perdition and death, springing forth into the
midst, and provoking the people of Christ with the trial of comparison— Christ
Himself being present, and judging— in these words: I, for those whom you see
with me, neither received buffets, nor bore scourgings, nor endured the cross,
nor shed my blood, nor redeemed my family at the price of my suffering and
blood; but neither do I promise them a celestial kingdom, nor do I recall them
to paradise, having again restored to them immortality. But they prepare for me
gifts how precious! How large! With how excessive and tedious a labour
procured! And that, with the most sumptuous devices either pledging or selling
their means in the procuring of the gift! And, unless a competent manifestation
followed, they are cast out with scoffings and hissings, and by the popular
fury sometimes they are almost stoned! Show, O Christ, such givers as these of
Yours — those rich men, those men affluent with abounding wealth— whether in
the Church wherein You preside and behold, they set forth a gift of that
kind—having pledged or scattered their riches, yea, having transferred them, by
the change of their possessions for the better, into heavenly treasures! In
those spectacles of mine, perishing and earthly as they are, no one is fed, no
one is clothed, no one is sustained by the comfort either of any meat or drink.
All things, between the madness of the exhibitor and the mistake of the
spectator, are perishing in a prodigal and foolish vanity of deceiving
pleasures. There, in Your poor, You are clothed and fed; You promise eternal
life to those who labour for You; and scarcely are Your people made equal to
mine that perish, although they are honoured by You with divine wages and
heavenly rewards.
23. What do we reply to
these things, dearest brethren? With what reason do we defend the minds of rich
men, overwhelmed with a profane barrenness and a kind of night of gloom? With
what excuse do we acquit them, seeing that we are less than the devil's
servants, so as not even moderately to repay Christ for the price of His
passion and blood? He has given us precepts; what His servants ought to do He
has instructed us; promising a reward to those that are charitable, and
threatening punishment to the unfruitful. He has set forth His sentence. He has
before announced what He shall judge. What can be the excuse for the laggard?
What the defence for the unfruitful? But when the servant does not do what is
commanded, the Lord will do what He threatens, seeing that He says: When the
Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then shall He
sit in the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations;
and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep
from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the King say unto them that shall be on His right hand,
Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that is prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered, and you gave me to
eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me
in: naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison,
and you came to me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw
we You an hungered, and fed You? Thirsty, land gave You drink? When saw we You
a stranger, and took You in? Naked, and clothed You? Or when saw we You sick,
and in prison, and came unto You? Then shall the King answer and say unto them,
Verily I say unto you, Insomuch as you did it to one of the least of these my
brethren, you did it unto me. Then shall He say also unto those that shall be
at His left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which my
Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was an hungered, and
you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink: I was a
stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in
prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord,
when saw we You an hungered, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and ministered not unto You? And He shall answer them, Verily I say
unto you, In so far as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it
not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting burning: but the
righteous into life eternal What more could Christ declare unto us? How more
could He stimulate the works of our righteousness and mercy, than by saying
that whatever is given to the needy and poor is given to Himself, and by saying
that He is aggrieved unless the needy and poor be supplied? So that he who in
the Church is not moved by consideration for his brother, may yet be moved by
contemplation of Christ; and he who does not think of his fellow-servant in
suffering and in poverty, may yet think of his Lord, who abides in that very
man whom he is despising.
24. And therefore, dearest
brethren, whose fear is inclined towards God, and who having already despised
and trampled under foot the world, have lifted up your mind to things heavenly
and divine, let us with full faith, with devoted mind, with continual labour,
give our obedience, to deserve well of the Lord. Let us give to Christ earthly
garments, that we may receive heavenly raiment; let us give food and drink of
this world, that we may come with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob to the heavenly
banquet. That we may not reap little, let us sow abundantly. Let us, while
there is time, take thought for our security and eternal salvation, according
to the admonition of the Apostle Paul, who says: Therefore, while we have time,
let us labour in what is good unto all men, but especially to them that are of
the household of faith. But let us not be weary in well-doing, for in its
season we shall reap.
25. Let us consider,
beloved brethren, what the congregation of believers did in the time of the
apostles, when at the first beginnings the mind flourished with greater
virtues, when the faith of believers burned with a warmth of faith as yet new.
Then they sold houses and farms, and gladly and liberally presented to the
apostles the proceeds to be dispensed to the poor; selling and alienating their
earthly estate, they transferred their lands there where they might receive the
fruits of an eternal possession, and there prepared homes where they might
begin an eternal habitation. Such, then, was the abundance in labours, as was
the agreement in love, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: And the
multitude of them that believed acted with one heart and one soul; neither was
there any distinction among them, nor did they esteem anything their own of the
goods which belonged to them, but they had all things common. Acts 4:32 This is
truly to become sons of God by spiritual birth; this is to imitate by the
heavenly law the equity of God the Father. For whatever is of God is common in
our use; nor is any one excluded from His benefits and His gifts, so as to
prevent the whole human race from enjoying equally the divine goodness and
liberality. Thus the day equally enlightens, the sun gives radiance, the rain
moistens, the wind blows, and the sleep is one to those that sleep, and the
splendour of the stars and of the moon is common. In which example of equality,
he who, as a possessor in the earth, shares his returns and his fruits with the
fraternity, while he is common and just in his gratuitous bounties, is an
imitator of God the Father.
by Saint Cyprian of Carthrage
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
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