HOMILY XXIII. On Almsgiving and Hospitality.
A ...to have sent them, when he even opened the outer prison? But let us hear him boasting of this very thing and saying: "I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you" (Eph. iv, 1). For great and ample is this dignity, and greater than a kingdom and a consulship and all things, to be a prisoner for Christ; for nothing is so glorious as to be a prisoner for Christ, as to have those holy hands surrounded by chains. This is far more splendid and august than to be an apostle, than to be a teacher, than to be an evangelist. If anyone loves Christ, he knows what I say. If anyone is mad and burns with the love of the Lord, he knows the power of the chains; he would perhaps prefer to be a prisoner for Christ than to inhabit the heavens. For perhaps this is even more splendid, more honorable, and more blessed than to sit at His right hand or upon the twelve thrones. If anyone were to grant me the whole heaven, or that chain by which Paul’s hands were bound, I would prefer the latter; if anyone were to set me among the angels above, or with Paul in prison, I would choose the chains; if anyone were to make me be with those Powers that are around the throne, or a prisoner such as this, I would choose to be a prisoner such as this rather. For there is nothing better than to suffer ills for Christ. If anyone were to give me the power to raise the dead, not even then would I choose that, but rather the chain; for than that chain nothing is more blessed. I would wish now to be in those places where those chains remain, and to see the chains which demons have feared and shudder at, and which angels revere. If I were free from ecclesiastical cares and had a robust body, I would not at all refuse to make such a pilgrimage, that I might see only the chains and the prison where Paul was a prisoner. O blessed chains! O blessed hands, which that chain, wrapped around Paul, adorned! Not so precious were his hands when they raised the lame man in Lystra, as when they were surrounded with chains. If I had been present at those times, then more than ever would I have embraced them and applied them to the pupils of my eyes; I would never have ceased kissing the hands deemed worthy to be bound for my Lord. I do not so much pronounce him blessed because he was caught up into the third heaven and into paradise, as because he was cast into prison: I do not so much call him blessed because he heard unspeakable words, as because he endured chains; for these are much greater than those. B For it is more desirable to me to be afflicted for Christ, than to be honored by Christ. Thinking this, as is consistent, Paul also said: If even He, for my sake, was made a servant and emptied Himself of glory, and did not count Himself to be in glory as much as when He was being fastened to the cross for me, what ought I not to suffer? For hear Him saying: "Glorify me, O Father" (John xvii, 5). What are you saying? You are being led to the cross with thieves and tomb-robbers, to suffer the death of criminals; you are to be spat upon and struck with buffets, and do you call these things glory? "Yes," He says, "I suffer these things for those I love, and deservedly do I consider these same things to be glory." If, therefore, my Lord, loving the miserable and wretched, calls these things glory, and prefers this to the glory of the Father’s throne, much more ought I to consider these things to be glory. All men are astounded at Job because of his patience, because of his purity of life, because of the testimony of God, and because of that fierce struggle, because of that admirable victory after the struggle: but what the soul of an adamant could exhibit the tolerance of Paul? For he did not spend his life struggling in this way for many months, but for many years: not scraping off clods of earth while he wiped away sanies, but constantly falling into the very intelligible mouth of the lion, and fighting with infinite temptations; and being reviled, spat upon, and loaded with curses not by three or four friends, but by all the unfaithful, and enduring infinite clouds of temptations, and now indeed scourged, now indeed wasted in body by stones, and consumed by constant hunger and cold. But the hospitality of Job is great? We do not deny it; but we shall find it as much inferior to the hospitality of Paul as the body is viler than the soul. For what he did to those injured in the flesh, this man provided to those who had suffered loss in their soul: and he indeed, having infinite oxen and sheep, did this; but this one, possessing nothing besides his body, from this very thing supplied the needy, and cried out, saying: "These hands have provided for my necessities and for those who were with me" (Acts xx, 34). Let us emulate these, let us all imitate these, that we may obtain equal praises and rewards, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
HOMILY XXIII. On Almsgiving and Hospitality.
The sermon on almsgiving, beloved, is fitting not only for the rich, but also for the poor; even if anyone lives by begging, this sermon extends to him also: for no one is so poor, even if he be very poor, that he does not have two mites. For it is possible even from a little to give a little and surpass those who possess much, by giving more: just like that widow. For the magnitude of almsgiving is judged not by the measure of what is given, but by the capacity and intention of the givers. For one ought not to attend to this, that the widow offered two obols, but that having only these, she did not spare them, but contributed her entire substance. Therefore, not abundance, but the readiness of the mind is what we need. For just as with it present, poverty will have hindered nothing: so with it absent, an abundance of goods will have profited us nothing. Therefore the wicked rich will be punished more than the poor, because they were not mild even in abundance. And do not tell me that they gave alms: for unless they gave according to the dignity of their wealth, they will not even thus escape punishment. For almsgiving is not estimated by the measure of things given, but by the compliance of the mind. And can it be, someone will say, that a rich man be saved? And most certainly. Abraham was rich. Have you seen his riches? See also his hospitality. At midday the Lord appeared to him sitting at the oak of Mamre, and three men. And rising (for he did not think it was God who was present: [original-script column: see facsimile])
A he worshiped and said: "If you have judged me worthy, that you should enter into the tent of my servants." Do you see what the old man was doing at midday? Not sitting under a roof, but like a stranger and a traveler—he, the rich and noble man—abandoning his house, his wife, his children, his servants, he went out to fish, spreading the net of hospitality, lest perhaps a stranger, lest perhaps a traveler should pass by his house. And see what he does. He does not entrust it to a servant, although he had three hundred and eighteen (for he knew that the race of servants is slothful), lest the servant should doze off and the stranger pass by and we lose the catch; but he himself sat, receiving the hot ray like dew in the heat; and the desire for hospitality was his shade. Behold Abraham; behold the rich man. Do you deign at all even to see a poor man? Or to answer? Or to converse? B Do you wish to imitate Abraham? I do not forbid it, nay, I even desire it; although greater things are required of us than were required of Abraham. But what, you say, did Abraham have? He was hospitable. And Abraham rose, he says, and worshiped, not even knowing who were present. For if he had known, he would have done nothing wonderful, because he was serving God; but his ignorance of those who had arrived shows his readiness for hospitality to be the greater. And he calls Sarah too, making her a participant in the hospitality: "Let the things of marriage," he says, "be common, and the things of virtue; hasten and knead three measures of fine flour." And she did not say anything of this sort: "Is it for these hopes that I was married, that you might make me a miller and a baker, I who have so much wealth? You have three hundred and eighteen slaves, and you did not come to command them, but you cast me into this service?" But she hears: "Hasten," and she snatches the command. Where are the women of today? Do they receive such commands? Throw out her hand and you see it adorned with gold on the outside, but inside possessing a siege. How many poor men’s greed does your hand carry? Show me your hand, show me what it is in need of: greed. Throw out Sarah's hand; what is it bestowed with? Hospitality, alms, love, love for the poor. "Hasten and knead three measures of fine flour." And he himself ran to the herd of oxen. They share the labor so that they may share the crown. Then he sacrificed the calf. At the same time, the old man became a runner; for the tone of his flesh was not weakened, but his mind was braced by philosophy; readiness conquered nature. The master of three hundred and eighteen servants, carrying a calf, was not burdened by the weight, but was lightened by his mind and his readiness. The run was set before the old man. How great the toil! But he did not feel the toil, because of the hope of gain. What then did the one who had arrived say? "I will return at this time, and Sarah shall have a son." Do you see what fruit the table brought forth? How beautiful! How swift! How mature! How the grape is ripening and complete! Such are the fruits of hospitality. C Let us not, then, think that our substance is diminished when we provide alms; for it is not diminished, but increased; it is not spent, but abounds, and what is done is a kind of business and seed—or rather, it is more profitable and safer than both of these. For trade is subject to winds and the waves of the sea and many shipwrecks; and seeds to droughts and heavy rains and other irregularities of the air. But money cast into the hand of the Lord is above every plot, and no one is able to snatch what has been given once from the hand of the one who received it, but it remains and produces for us a great and ineffable fruit, and brings the harvest in its season, rich. For if a man, having received it, will not overlook it but will return the grace, much more will Christ. For He who gives even without receiving, how will He not give after receiving? Hear Solomon: "He who has mercy on the poor," he says, "lends to God." Do you see the nature of a loan, strange and paradoxical? The one who receives is one, and a different one is he who renders himself liable for the loan. Why did he not say, "He who has mercy on the poor gives to God," but "Lends"? So that you might not think the recompense is simple. The Scripture knows our greed; it attended to the fact that our insatiability, looking toward gain, seeks an increase, and nowhere are there those willing to lend money D to the poor without security, or a mortgage, or pledges, or a guarantor. And since God knows that without these no one lends, and does not look to philanthropy but looks only to profit—and the poor man is destitute of all these, having no mortgage (for he possesses nothing), nor bringing pledges (for he has been stripped), nor providing an endorser (for he is disbelieved on account of his poverty)—as He saw him in danger through his poverty, and the one who has money in danger through his inhumanity, He placed Himself in the middle, as a guarantor for the poor man, and as a pledge for the lender. "He who has mercy on the poor," he says, "lends to God." And yet, if it is necessary to lend, we make inquiries about those who lend much, and we look around for those who are grateful; but here we do the opposite: we leave the grateful God, who grants a hundredfold, and we seek those who will not even return the principal to us. For what will our belly return to us, which consumes the greater part? Dung and corruption. And what will vainglory? Envy and spite. And what will stinginess? Worry and anxiety. And what will licentiousness? Hell and the venomous worm. For these are the creditors of the wealthy, and providing the interest on this principal, they pay the evils here and the expected woes. Why then do you not give to Him who will certainly give, and give more? Perhaps because He gives after a long time. And yet, He gives even here; for He is truthful who says: "Seek the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you." Beside these, even the receiving after a long time increases the wealth for you; for the interest becomes greater. For we see this even in the case of those who lend; we call those lenders who are more ready to lend to those who pay back after a long time. For the one who pays back everything immediately cuts short the course of the interest; but the one who holds it for a longer time, and the labor,
A has caused it to be more. And so, do we not tolerate delay among men, but even purposely seek it so that it may be more, yet toward God we are so petty-minded and stingy? *He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord* (Prov. 19:17). And do you say to me, "Lord, do you borrow the alms given to the poor?" In order that you may one day pay this back to me, give me a term for the repayment, set a deadline. When and where will you pay back the debt? *When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory* (Matt. 25:31), and shall set the sheep indeed on the right, but the goats on the left, and shall say to those on the right: *Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world* (v. 34). For what? *For I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me to drink; I was naked, and ye covered me* (vv. 35-36). And why, O Lord, did you not mention other ways, but only alms? I do not judge, he says, the sin, but the inhumanity; I do not judge those who have sinned, but those who have not repented. For the sake of your inhumanity I condemn you, because having so much, and such a medicine for salvation, I mean alms, by which all sins are blotted out, you have passed over such a benefit. For you did not receive money for this, that you might spend it on luxury, but that you might spend it on alms. Are those things which you possess yours? The goods of the poor are entrusted to B you, whether you possess them from just labors or from paternal inheritance. For do not, because you were told to give from your own with great humanity, think that they are your own; nor make the excellence of humanity a matter of ingratitude. For could God not have taken these away? Yet he does not do so, but gives you the power to exercise liberality toward the needy. For what reason then did you not give? Do you distrust that you will receive it back? And how would this be in accordance with reason? For if He who does not owe gives, how much more will He give after He has received? For this reason God permitted you to have more than others, not so that you might spend it on fornications and drunkenness, on gluttony and the luxury of garments and other softness, but that you might disburse it to the needy. For if you spend anything beyond necessity upon yourself, you will have to give the most difficult account there. But I know that many have arrived at such a pitch of sloth that they despise the poor who are laboring under hunger, and say such things to them: "I have no servant here now; I am far from home; no one of those present is known to me." O the cruelty! O the injury! Even if it were necessary to walk ten stadia, you ought not to have been so slothful; for the reward is greater. For if you give [remotely], you receive the reward only for the gift; but if you go yourself, there is a reward proposed for this as well. For even we marvel at the patriarch Abraham for this most of all, that having three hundred and eighteen house-born servants, he commanded none of these, but he himself ran to the cattle and snatched the calf. Do not, therefore, be ashamed to care for the poor with your own hand. Christ is not ashamed to stretch out His hand and receive through the poor: and are you ashamed to stretch out your hand and give money? And how is this not worthy of shame? For if a cup of cold water alone brings about the C kingdom of heaven, how much, I ask, will it bring in fruit, to have provided covering, to have made one a partaker of the table, and to have refreshed the poor man? Therefore, let us not be ashamed of the care of the poor, nor let us decline to perform the offices ourselves; for our hands are sanctified through such ministry, and if we stretch them out from that care for prayer, God, seeing them, is more pacified and gives the petition. For giving money is the work of many; but to care for the needy by one's own self, and to do this with readiness and zeal, is the work of a great and wise soul. If you see someone helping you in matters pertaining to this life, or assisting in a lawsuit, or in any other such thing, you run to him and embrace him with great benevolence, and kiss his hands, and spend money, and perform the duties of a servant; but when you see Christ entering, do you feel reluctance and shrink from His service? If you do not receive the stranger as Christ, do not receive him; but if you receive him as Christ, do not be ashamed to wash the feet of Christ. But as long as the market is open, let us buy alms; or rather, let us purchase salvation for ourselves with alms. You clothe Christ when you clothe the poor. For if a cold cup has a reward, is no reward due to garments and money which are given out of liberality? Nay, a great reward is indeed due to them. For if, when the giving is done without expense, the grace of beneficence is so great, how much reward is it necessary to receive from the just Judge, where there is an abundance of garments, an expenditure of money, and a superfluity of other goods? I know that you have learned these and suchlike things frequently; but would that we practiced the good that we have frequently learned, at least rarely! For it is of great folly, when one wishes to buy a field, to seek fertile land; but when heaven is proposed instead of the earth, and it is ready to acquire the prize there, to remain on the earth and endure its labors. Tell me, I ask, if someone were to tell you that this city was going to collapse after a year, but another one was not; would you build houses in that which was to collapse? Therefore, let us not build in this world; for it will fall not long after, and will perish: and what do I say, "it will fall"? Before it falls, we pass away, and will suffer grievous and unworthy things. But let us rather build our building in heaven, where there will be no need for craftsmen or builders, but the hands of the poor build such structures; and not only this, but they also procure the heavenly kingdom and provide bold confidence before D God: such is the excellence of alms. And just as when a queen enters, no one of those guarding the gates dares to examine who she is, or from where, but all receive her with joy; so indeed does alms of its own accord place its performers beside the royal throne. For God loves it, and it always stands near Him, and for whatever it may ask favor, it immediately obtains. Such is the excellence of alms, that it not only blots out offenses, but even repels death itself. But who, one says, making alms has overcome death? For indeed we all see that we are placed under the empire of death. But do not be troubled; rather, learn from the very things themselves how the virtue of alms overcame the empire of this. There was a certain woman, Tabitha...
who made it her practice to gather the abundance that comes from almsgiving, and she clothed, she says, the widows, and provided them with every other necessary. Now it happened that when she fell ill, she died. What then of those who were enjoying her generosity and had their own bodies covered by her? They returned the favor to their benefactress at that moment; for standing around the Apostle, they displayed the garments and all that she used to do for them, shedding tears, and bringing him to pity thereby. A What then did Peter do? Having knelt, he says, he prayed, and turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, arise." B And she opened her eyes and, seeing Peter, sat up; and he gave her his hand and raised her up; and having called the widows and those present, he presented her to them alive. Do you see what reward the doing of good for widows brings? For what, tell me, did she provide to the widows so great as what they returned to her? For the magnitude of almsgiving is not judged by the quantity of what is given, but in the readiness of those who give.
Truly, the feet of saints coming into a house are mighty; they sanctify the very floor, they bring in treasures of a myriad of good things, they correct a corrupted nature, they dissolve famine, and they bring in great abundance. For the feet of Elijah, entering into the house of the widow, demonstrated C a new and paradoxical way of doing good; they made the house of the widow a field, and the water jar a threshing floor. A new kind of sowing and reaping took place then. How? She sowed into the mouth of the just man, and she reaped what had been cast in from the water jar with much abundance; she sowed flour, and she reaped flour. It needed no oxen, no yoke, no plow, no furrow, nor rain, nor weather, nor sickle, nor threshing floor, nor sheaves, nor winds to separate the chaff from the grain, nor a mill to grind, but in a single moment of time, it found the completion of all these things in the water jar.
Such are the gifts of the saints; such are the things the feet of the saints bestow, or rather, even much more than these. And if I were not making my discourse long, I would have enumerated many such gifts. But as those who are honored bring such gifts, so those who are dishonored bring upon themselves great punishment and unquenchable fire. D But, he says, that was Peter, and that was Elijah, he says. What, tell me, are you saying? Even if it was Peter and Elijah, did they not partake of the same nature? Were they not brought into this life for us by the same path? Were they not nourished by the same food? Did they not use the same things? Did not some of them have wives and children, and others trades for a living, and were not others brought down into the very abyss of wickedness? "But," he says, "they enjoyed much grace." But if we were commanded to raise the dead, and to open the eyes of the blind, and to cleanse lepers and raise the lame, and to cast out demons, and to heal other such diseases, there would be a time for such an apology on our part; but if the examination is now of our way of life, and the display of obedience, and the estrangement from evils, what argument would have relevance to that?
For Christ does not give the prizes merely to those who have performed signs, but to those who have done His commands; "Come," He says, "you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; [not because you worked miracles, but because] I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in." So that even if grace has now withdrawn those things, this will not be able to harm us in any way, nor will it be able to apologize for us when we render an account of our deeds. For a righteous way of life will receive crowns even without signs; but a lawless life will not be able to escape punishment even with signs. Let us therefore pursue such virtues as may well be able to benefit our neighbors along with our own salvation. Such is almsgiving; from it, prayer and fasting and every other virtue take their strength. For if you fast, without almsgiving, even the fast is not counted as a thing, but is worse than being a glutton and a drunkard, to the extent that the cruelty of luxury is more grievous. And why do I speak of fasting? For even if you are chaste, even if you remain a virgin, you stand outside the bridal chamber if you do not have almsgiving. And yet, what is equal to virginity? Which did not even come under the law in the New Testament out of necessity because of its excellence. If, then, virgins are cast out because they do not have this [almsgiving] with the fitting abundance, who will be able, without this, to find pardon? There is no one, there is none, but it is necessary for him who does not have this to perish entirely. For if in worldly matters no one lives for himself, but craftsmen and soldiers and farmers and merchants all contribute to the common advantage and the benefit of their neighbor, much more must one do this in spiritual matters; for this is what it is most to live; as he who lives for himself alone and ignores everyone is superfluous, and is not even a man, nor of our race.
He, therefore, who desires to become rich, let him become poor, so that he may become rich; let him spend, so that he may gather; let him scatter, so that he may store up. But if these things are new and paradoxical, look at the sower and consider that not even he will be able to gather more for others, unless he scatters what he has and lets go of what is ready. For why do you not provide for those in need? "A chorus of children stands around me," he says, "and I desire to leave them rich." For what reason, then, do you make them poor? For if you leave them everything, you have entrusted all your things to an untrustworthy guard; but if you leave God as their joint-heir and guardian, you have left them a myriad-fold treasure. If, therefore, you desire to leave the children...
A wealthy, leave behind the providence of God. For He, providing nothing of your own, having fashioned both soul and body and granted life, when He displays such great generosity toward them, how would He not open to them every wealth? For Elias, fed with a little flour, since he saw that woman preferring the guest to her own children, showed the widow’s store—the grain bin and the oil press—to his host; consider whether the Master of Elias shows B even greater generosity to them. Do you wish to leave your children wealthy? Leave them God as their debtor. For if they receive money, they do not even know where to put it; but if you have taken the precaution of lending it to God, the treasure remains immune, and the repayment will be made with great ease. For God feels gratitude and—when He owes and when He pays—He looks more gladly upon His creditors than upon those who have lent Him nothing; and whom He owes the most, them He also loves the most. Therefore, if you desire to have Him as a friend, constitute Him a debtor. For a creditor does not so rejoice in having debtors as God is delighted in having creditors; and those to whom He owes nothing He even avoids, but those to whom He owes, to them He even runs of His own accord. Thus, what you entrust to men, Christ stands C ready to receive and guard, and not only to guard, but even to increase, and to restore it to you with great interest. From His hands, no one steals. And He does not only preserve them, but for this very reason He also resolves all your dangers. Among men, indeed, those who receive deposits imagine they are showing us a kindness because they guard what they received from us; but with Christ, the opposite occurs; for He professes not to have given a benefit, but to have received one, when He takes them from you. And indeed, one who has received a deposit even demands a reward from you; but Christ even gives you a reward for this. For this reason God ordered you to give money to another, so that you might have it; for as long as you keep it alone, you do not even possess it; but if you hand it to another, then you have received it. For just as if someone gives a small silver D coin to a little child and tells him to hold it firmly, or to a servant and tells him to guard it diligently, so that no one may snatch it from him if he wishes: so too does God act: “Give,” He says, “to the needy, so that no one may take it from you—neither the slanderer, nor the devil, nor the thief, nor, after all these, death itself.” For as long as you yourself hold onto it, you do not possess it securely; but if you give it to Me, He says, through the poor, I guard it all for you diligently. For I do not take it in order to deprive you, but that I may return it more abundant, that I may guard it more diligently, that I may preserve it for you until that time when there is no creditor nor anyone to pity. Why do you labor in vain, O rich man, hiding the poor’s goods in your own treasuries? Why are you indignant when something is asked of you, as if you were spending your own? They desire their own ancestral goods, not what is yours; that which was entrusted to you on their account, not which was born with you. Give what you received, and make a profit on the use; it is enough for you that you are destined to give, not to receive. Why do you entrust your treasure to the earth? Give it to My hand, He says. Does the Lord of the earth not seem to you to be more trustworthy than the earth?
I have given, you say. But you must not stop doing these things; for then only will you be excused, if you have nothing, if you possess nothing; but as long as you have, even if you have given to ten thousand, and yet there are still those who are hungry, there is no excuse for you. Therefore, let the rich man not be high-minded because he gives much, nor the poor man despondent as if offering little; for frequently the latter has given more than the former. For the much and the little are not judged by the measure of what is given, but by the capacity of the substance of those who give. You, however, feed parasites and flatterers, pouring out your money just like water from springs, and you rejoice; but if you see a poor man, then the fear of poverty hangs over you. Give to the needy, and do not give to a dancer, lest together with your money you destroy his soul as well; for you are the cause of his perdition through your untimely generosity. If the dancers had known that their profession would be useless to them, they would have long ago ceased pursuing such things. The blind man, having obtained mercy, knows how to lead the way into the heavenly kingdom; and the one who stumbles against walls and falls into ditches, this one prepares the way for ascending into heaven. If you do not give alms for display before men, even if the whole world knows, no one knows, since you did not do it with this intention. For He did not say, “Do not do it before men at all,” but He added, “In order to be seen by them” (Matt. 6:1). How great is the dignity of poverty! It puts on the person of God; God is hidden in poverty; and the poor man is the one who stretches out his hand, but God is the one who receives. If anything sad happens to you, immediately give alms; give thanks that it has happened to you, and you will see how much joy will follow. For spiritual gain, even if it is small, is so great that it covers whatever bodily damage you might have. And if you do not believe, test it, and you will understand the glory of God. But O the recklessness! O the ungrateful soul! We always live in sins and wickedness; but if we do even a small bit of good, like wicked servants, we inquire with much haggling, and we search diligently concerning the retribution, whether the act itself has any reward. And yet the reward is greater if you do not do it in the hope of reward; for one ought to do all things for Christ’s sake, and not for the hope of a reward. For if the God who made us from the beginning, when no good preceded us, has continuously granted us so much—what will He not grant us after so many and such great labors have been performed, and after we have suffered for His sake? And we, for our own sakes, begrudge even a small amount of gold; He, however, even gave His own Son for us. And for the sake of human friendship, we do not refuse to undergo many dangers; but for the love of God, do we not even cast aside our money? And how is it not unworthy, that while Christ has even laid down His soul for us, and poured out His precious blood on our behalf—we who were neither lovers of Him nor good—we do not even pour out money for His sake, but despise the one who is naked and a stranger, who died for us? And who, then, will snatch us from the future punishment? For if it were not God, but we ourselves were to punish us, would we not have passed judgment against ourselves? Would we not have condemned ourselves to the fire of Gehenna, despising as he wastes away in hunger the One who laid down His soul for us? And why do I speak of money? If we had even ten thousand souls, would it not be necessary to lay down them all for Him? If one of us were being led to death, and it were proposed to him that he would be free if he would cast away all his wealth, he would surely consider this a great kindness; yet now, when we are being led to Gehenna, and it is possible to escape by giving even half, we choose rather to undergo punishments and rashly retain our own, that we might lose our very selves? And what excuse, what forgiveness will we have, we who deprive ourselves of the goods of both this life and the next, when it was possible to enjoy both securely? If for the sake of secular dignity one often gives his entire substance—for the sake of dignity, I say, which is to remain here...
and not even here does it persist for a long time; for many, even long before their death, have been stripped of this rank, and others because of it have often lost their very life; yet despite knowing these things, people move heaven and earth for its sake—if then they do so much for this, what will become of us, who possess nothing, who do not even bestow those things which, a little later, we shall leave behind here against our will? What manner of madness would it not be, if having things which we shall be deprived of against our will, we do not wish to give them A when we have the opportunity, and to take them with us? But we fasten golden necklaces on our servants and mules and horses, while we look dismissively upon the Lord as He passes by, homeless, extending his hand, and often we look at Him with a cruel eye. What could be worse than this madness? For when God sends the poor to us, commanding them to give from His own, we, besides not giving, even send them away insulted. Consider how many thunderbolts, how many B avenging fires a deed like this deserves. For if a servant of yours, when ordered to go to another servant who has money of yours and to take it, returned not only with empty hands, but also insulted, what would you not do to the one who had thus acted? How great a penalty would you not demand, since you yourself would be the one insulted? And if this is so among men, how much more so before the Lord of both men and all things? If you do not wish to give anything to the poor man who asks, why do you also strike his soul by reviling him? For if he had expected to hear such things, would he have approached you? "But he is shameless," you say, "and runs up and shouts." What are you saying? How often, when a meal has been set, have you called the serving slave, and because he walked a bit C more slowly, upset everything for the sake of a small delay, even though you knew very well that, if not immediately, yet a little later you would enjoy the pleasure? And yet you do not call yourself shameless for being enraged over nothing; but do you call the poor man—who is fearful and trembling for greater [reasons], for all his fear is not about a delay, but about hunger—this man you call reckless and shameless? And how is this not the height of shamelessness? If, when you see some small drop falling from the roof, you call servants and craftsmen and upset the whole house; how do you look dismissively upon the poor man lying in rags, straw, and filth, D enduring all the freezing cold? What beast would not be broken by such things? Who is so cruel and inhuman as not to become gentle toward them? But there are some who have reached such a point of harshness that not only do they not show mercy and weep and share in the calamities, but they often also insult [them] and say that they deserve to suffer these things. For what reason, tell me, do they deserve to suffer, because they wish to be fed and not die of hunger? "No," he says, "but because they are idle." But do you not indulge in luxury while idle? Do you not often perform a "work" worse than any idleness, by snatching and using violence and overreaching? It would have been better if you were idle in such a way; for it is far better to be idle in that way than to overreach and snatch. When, therefore, you see a poor man and say, "I am choked [with rage] because he is a young man, so healthy, and having nothing, he wishes to be fed while being idle"—say these things to yourself; or rather, give him the power to say them to you: "I am choked because you are healthy and are idle [in your duty], and you do not perform any of the things that God has commanded." And you, indeed, reproach him for idleness, but he [has cause to reproach you] even for wicked works, because you snatch and overreach and destroy the houses of others. "But he is lying," you say, "and much is fabricated." But even for that reason he is worthy of pity, that he has fallen into such necessity as even to behave so shamelessly. We, however, not only do not pity him, but we also add those cruel words, saying, "Did he not receive once or twice?" What then? Is he not to be fed again, because he was fed once? Why do you not apply these same laws to your own stomach, and say to it, "You were filled yesterday, do not seek it now"? But that one you burst even beyond measure, and this one, even when asking for what is moderate, you turn away—and do you wish to be heard when you pray for yourself? For how shall he who has looked dismissively upon the one being pressed, and has not given from his own, seek to receive from what is not his? Are these things not worthy of condemnation, that we do not consider it a loss to be feeding parasites and flatterers, but if we see a poor man approaching, being consumed by hunger and cold, we not only look dismissively upon him, but we also immediately trample upon him? "For why," he says, "does he not work; and why is he fed while idle?" But are you working [for what] you have? Is it not because you received a paternal inheritance? And if you do work, is it for this reason that you reproach another? "But he is an impostor." What are you saying? For the sake of some bread and a cloak do you call him an impostor? "But," he says, "he immediately sells it." And you, do you manage all your own things well? What then? Do all become poor from idleness? Does no one from shipwreck? No one from law-courts? No one from theft? No one from disease? No one from dangers? No one from some other circumstance? But if we hear someone lamenting such things, and shouting loudly, and looking up at heaven while naked, we immediately call him an impostor, a deceiver, a hypocrite. Are you not ashamed to call someone an impostor? Give nothing, and do not accuse the poor man. "But he has [means], and is putting on an act." This is your accusation, not his; he knows [that] when he has [these]
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before him, [it is] to beasts rather than to men, and that even if he utters a pitiful cry, he draws no one; and for this reason he is compelledto invent something A more pitiable, so that he may move your soul. O what cruelty! O what inhumanity! If we see a man free-born and of noble standing coming forward in such a state, he is a beggar, he says—and that he may seem to be of noble descent, he approaches in this way—if we see [someone] naked and in rags, we turn our backs on him. O, what 594 impudence of this beastliness! "If you wish, give; if you do not wish, send him away." Why, you wretch and most miserable man, do you also turn away those who wish to give? For when such a person hears from you that he is a deceiver, he becomes a judge, and he will not give to any of these, for he will suspect that all are such. And for what reason, he says, does he strip his mutilated limbs? So that he may be begging for alms. But if we were merciful, he would not have devised so many things from any of these trades or from his first approach. Who is so miserable that he would desire to lament publicly with his wife and children all stripped naked? And are these things not worse than poverty? And yet they are not only not pitied, but they are even accused by us of being shameless. And you, while you are seizing others' goods, are not shameless, but that man, being in need of bread, will be judged shameless? "Give to everyone who asks of you, and do not turn away him who wants to borrow from you" (Matt. 5:42). For how is it not absurd that you, while gluttonizing and stuffing yourself, and dragging out your drinking until late in the deep evening, and spending your life wrapped in soft blankets, should despise the poor man who is naked, trembling, and starving? And what do I say of nakedness and trembling, when some have even been forced to blind children of tender age, so that they might strike at our numbness? For since they were seen, and wandering about naked, they did not attract the cruel—neither because of their age, nor because of their misery—they added to such evils another, more grievous tragedy, so that they might solve their hunger; judging it more tolerable to be deprived of this common light and the ray of the sun granted to all, than to struggle with perpetual hunger and sustain the most miserable death.
Verily, man is a great and precious thing, a merciful man. For it is almsgiving when it is done with readiness, when [it is done] liberally, when you think that you are not giving but receiving, when you are as one receiving a benefit, as one earning and not losing, for this would not be a benefit if it were not so. For he who has mercy on another ought to rejoice and not be aggrieved in the least. For how is it not absurd, if you yourself are saddened while relieving another's sadness? For if you are distressed in your soul because you have liberated another from grief, you bring forward a token of the utmost cruelty and inhumanity; for it is better not to liberate than to liberate in this way. But why are you even grieved at all, O man? Lest your money be diminished? Clearly, if you have this kind of mind, do not even give; if you do not trust that it will be multiplied for you in the heavens, do not offer it. Or perhaps you desire the retribution in this life? And why this? Let almsgiving be almsgiving, and not a trade. Indeed, many have received here, but they have not received in such a way that on this account they had more than those who did not receive. But those who seek and receive here, diminish their reward there. Let us not, therefore, say that this one is wicked and unworthy of a benefit, and another is base and cast off. Do not look at the dignity of the one in need, but only at the necessity. For even if he is base and cast off, even if he is despised, thus does Christ impute the reward to you, as if He Himself were affected by the benefit through him. Peter and John were going up at one time to the temple to pray; and behold, a man lame from his mother's womb was being carried, and was lying at the gate of the temple: and when he saw them entering, he looked at them, hoping to receive alms from them (Acts 3:1-3). What then did Peter do? "Look at us," he says (Ibid. v. 4); you have a sufficient indication of poverty from our look: there is no need for words or for an answer: the clothing shows the poor man. What then? Is this the whole duty of the apostolic office regarding the needy, that he does not relieve the poverty, B that he says to you: "Silver and gold have I none"? Wait a little, and you will see greater riches. "Silver and gold," he says, "I do not have; but what I have, this I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ, arise and walk" (Ibid. v. 6). Have you seen the lack of money and the wealth of graces? See, furthermore, his kindness: "Look at us," he says. He did not affect him with insults, he did not revile him, he did not turn him away—which we frequently do with those who approach us—demanding accounts from them, sending them off to some work, objecting that they are sleeping. Were you, O man, taught this? You were not commanded to object to their leisure, or to accuse [their] vice, nor to upbraid them for sloth, but to relieve poverty, and to cure misery, and to reach out a hand to those who are down. Do not, therefore, curiously search into their life and actions when you are about to give alms; for this is of the utmost ineptitude, to search through an entire life for the sake of one bread. For even if he is a murderer, even if he is a thief, even if that beggar is just anything at all, does he seem to you for that reason unworthy of a few coins? But your Lord makes His sun to rise upon him; yet you judge him unworthy of daily food? Are you ignorant that for this reason Abraham is especially held in greater admiration, because, not knowing who they were who had come to him, yet upon seeing them, he leaped up and hastened to meet them, and bowing down to the earth, said: "Lord, if I have found grace in your sight, do not pass by your servant" (Gen. 18:3)? Do not, therefore, you also anxiously inquire; for you receive [them] for Christ's sake; for if you always wish to search curiously, you will often pass by even a good man, and will lose the reward you would have had from this. Nor let us have care only for those of the household of faith, but neglect others; but if we see someone being hard pressed by evils, let us inquire nothing else: for the fact that he is suffering evils gives him a right to help. But I do not know where this custom has gained strength: when we see a secular person placed in calamity, we do not reach out a hand; but towards those who dwell in the mountains, we show our zeal. Whether you see a Greek, or a Jew, or any other person in misery, it is necessary to do good to him. Indeed, if you inquire into only the monks, and desire to do good to them alone, and again search curiously into them—whether he is worthy, whether he is righteous, whether he performs signs—and do not reach out a hand, you have stolen the profit of almsgiving; and this you will take away for a second time because of the time itself. For if you raise up an ass when you see him being choked, and do not make much inquiry as to whose it is; much less is it fitting for you to anxiously inquire into a man, who he is, whether he be Greek, even if he be a Jew; but only if he is in need of help. For if you saw him abounding in goods or celebrated by name, you would rightly say these things; but when you see him afflicted by evils, do not say that he is evil and wicked: for this is a proof of cruelty, and of inhumanity, and of the greatest arrogance. Therefore almsgiving is called mercy, so that we may bestow it upon both the worthy and the unworthy. For if we curiously inquire and solicitously search into the unworthy, not even the worthy will ever easily present themselves to us; but if we give even to the unworthy, the worthy—and those who are to be equated with all of them—will altogether come to our hands.
A For if we intend to seek out the worthiness of our fellow servants and to be precise, B God will do this concerning us; and while seeking to demand accounts from our fellow servants, we ourselves shall fall from the mercy above. For one who shows kindness ought not to demand accounts of life, but to correct poverty and fulfill need. C Therefore, when you see a beggar, do not run past, but immediately reflect upon what you would be, if you were he; reflect that he is a free man, equal to you, and of the same fellowship as you, and possesses everything in common with you, and often you do not make him even the equal of your dogs; but while they are sated, this man frequently has slept hungry, and the free man among your servants has become less honored. But they fulfill your need and serve you well? I will show that even this man fulfills a need for you much greater than theirs; for he will stand at your side in the day of judgment, and will deliver you from the fire. What can your slaves do that is like this? When Tabitha died, who raised her? The servants standing around, or the poor? Yet you do not even wish to make the free man of your servants your equal, he who is able to bend you toward mercy by his mere appearance and aspect? And how do you expect God to deliver you when you are in distress, if you pay no heed to him who has sinned nothing against you, but who is suffering, lamenting, and being tortured by hunger and cold? How will He allow you, who have sinned against Him, to go unpunished? For he who stops his ears, he says, so as not to hear the beggar, God will not hear his prayer (Prov. 21. 13). Let us therefore be such toward our fellow servants as we wish the Master to be toward us. D Almsgiving is a sacrifice greater than prayer and fasting and many other things, provided only that it is done from just gain and such labors, and is pure from all greed and rapine and violence. For God accepts such offerings; but the others He turns away and hates. For He does not wish to be honored from the calamities of others; for such a sacrifice is unclean and profane, and would provoke God rather than appease Him. For almsgiving is so named because we are to show mercy, not to punish our fellow servants. A He who takes the property of others and gives it to another has not shown mercy, but has rather punished, and has committed injustice of no small kind. He who wishes to be rich needs money; he who does not wish to be rich is always in abundance. For it is not being wealthy, but not wishing to be wealthy, that is riches. What do I mean? There is a rich man who plunders the property of all; and there is a rich man who provides his own to the poor: the one becomes rich in gathering, the other in spending; and the one sows the earth, the other cultivates heaven. But by as much as heaven is better than earth, by so much is the abundance of the latter stronger than that of the former. B And the amazing thing is that in the case of the plunderer, not only do the wronged, but even those who have suffered no harm, hate him, sharing the grief of those who have suffered ill. And if he falls, there are myriad cries from everyone: "Vile man, the altogether wicked one!" and everyone tramples upon him. But in the case of the merciful man, not only those who have received mercy, but even those who have not received it love him, counting the kindness done to others as done to themselves. And if he suffers anything unpleasant, everyone prays: "May God show him mercy; may He do him good; may blessings remain with him." Do you see how wickedness has as enemies even those who have not been wronged, while almsgiving has as lovers even those who have not received alms? C Therefore, first be delivered from plundering, and then show almsgiving; stay your hands from greed, and thus lead them to almsgiving. But if we strip the poor with those same hands, even if we clothe them with what is given from those takings, still we shall not escape punishment; for the premise of expiation becomes a premise of every transgression; for not to show mercy is better than to show mercy in such a way. D For if Cain, by bringing the lesser, provoked God, how will he who gives the property of others not provoke Him? Almsgiving is a most excellent art and a protectress of those who practice it; for it is dear to God, if it is not wronged by us; and it is wronged when we practice it from plunder; whereas if it is pure, it grants great boldness to those who offer it, and intercedes for those who have offended. For such is its power; it breaks chains, dissolves darkness, extinguishes fire, and makes those who practice it such as God. For be, He says, merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful (Luc. 6. 36). Let us not, therefore, squander the opportunity of the present life, but let us hold firmly to our salvation. For it is possible, it is indeed possible, even at our last breath to be pleasing to God; it is possible to be approved even by one's testament—not perhaps as those who are living, but it is possible nonetheless. How and in what manner? If you write God into your testament along with your heirs, and assign Him a share and portion of the whole estate. Did you not feed Him while living? Even upon departing, when you are no longer master, share yours with Him. For to feed Him while you are alive is of greater desire and greater reward; but if you have not done this for Him, come at least to the second; but if you shrink even from this, reflect that His Father has made you His co-heir, and put an end to your inhumanity. For what pardon will you obtain, when, toward Him, from those very possessions—of which you are not master anymore when you are about to depart, in addition to not having fed Him while living—you are unwilling to grant Him even a little, to share with Him your useless things? Are you so hostilely and inimically disposed, that you do not even see how many human beings have not been deemed worthy of even this end, but have been snatched away and departed? Yet God has made you master to instruct your relatives, and to speak concerning your possessions, and to arrange everything concerning your house. What defense, therefore, will you have, when, having received even this grace from Him, you betray the kindness, and not even 598 under necessity are you led to become a philanthropist? For while the alternative is better and grants much boldness—to correct poverty while living—if you are unwilling to do that, do something at least as you are ending your life. For if you will not have the primacy, it is not of great love, yet it is so nonetheless. Even if you will not be among the first, at least to follow, and not to be with the goats. What if you do not do even this, what will save you? When