A SERMON ON ALMSGIVING
A [1. The occasion for holding this homily.] I have risen today to undertake a certain just, useful, and appropriate embassy to you; not on behalf of any other, but because the poor who dwell in our city have elected me to this—not by ballots or decrees or the common resolution of a council, but by the sight of their pitiable and most bitter condition. For as I was passing through the marketplace and the alleys, hastening to your assembly, and then saw many cast down in the middle of the lanes, some with their hands cut off, others their eyes, others filled with incurable sores and wounds—and these exhibiting precisely those parts which it was necessary to cover on account of the putrefaction that had set in upon them—I considered it the ultimate inhumanity not to discourse on these matters to your charity, especially when the aforementioned things and the season itself urge us to this. For it is indeed necessary to make speeches about almsgiving, since we ourselves stand in much need of this from the Master who made us; but most especially at the present time, when the cold is severe.
For in summer, the poor have much comfort from the season; for it is safe to walk naked, the rays of the sun sufficing them instead of clothing, it is safe to sleep simply upon the ground and spend the night in the open air; and there is no such great need of footwear for them, nor of wine-drinking, nor of more abundant food, but they are satisfied with fountains of water, and some are satisfied with the more common vegetables, others with a small amount of dry seeds, the season of the year providing the table sketched out for them. And they have another comfort no less than this: the ease of labor; for those building houses, and those digging the earth, and those sailing the sea, have the greatest need of their cooperation. And what fields and houses and other revenues are to the wealthy, this their body is for them, and all their revenue is from B their hands, and from nowhere else. For this reason, in summer they enjoy a certain comfort; but in the winter season, the war is great for them from every direction, and the siege is twofold: famine consuming their inward parts, and the cold freezing their flesh on the outside and rendering it as if dead. Therefore, they need more food, and stronger clothing, and shelter, and a mat, and footwear, and many other things. And what is most difficult of all, there is no opportunity for work for them; for the season of the year does not permit it.
Since, then, they have a greater need of necessities, and have been deprived of the ability to work along with this, with no one hiring the wretched nor calling them to service, come, let us introduce the hands of the merciful in place of those who hire them, taking as a partner for this embassy Paul, the true protector and guardian of those living in poverty. For he takes great care of this matter, and such as no one else does. For this reason, dividing the disciples with Peter, he did not divide the protection of the poor; but having said, *They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision* (Gal. 2:9), he added, *Only that we should remember the poor; which same thing I was also eager to do* (Ibid. v. 10). And indeed, everywhere in his Epistles he brings in the discussion concerning these, and it is impossible to find any epistle that is outside this exhortation. For he knows just how great is the power of the matter; for this reason, just as if putting a marvelous roof upon the rest of his exhortations and counsels, he introduces the teaching concerning these. Which is just what he did here: having discoursed about the resurrection, and corrected all other things, he concluded with the speech concerning almsgiving, saying thus: *Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have directed the Churches of Galatia, so do you also: on one of the sabbaths let each of you* (1 Cor. 16:1–2). See the apostolic wisdom, how opportunely he touched on this exhortation. For after he had reminded them of the future judgment, and that fearful seat, and the glory which those who had succeeded in their duties were about to be clothed in, and the immortal dwelling; then finally he casts in the discourse concerning these things, so that the listener, having recovered his breath with good hopes and having become more at ease, might receive him with greater readiness, having a fear of the judgment that is still flourishing, and a soul emboldened by the expectations of the stored-up goods. For one who is capable of philosophizing about the resurrection, and has transferred himself entirely toward the life there, will deem the present things to be nothing—neither wealth, nor ease, nor gold, nor silver, nor the wearing of garments, nor luxury, nor expensive tables, nor anything else of this sort. And he who considers these to be nothing will more easily hold fast to the protection of the poor.
And for this reason, Paul also, having well prepared their mind with the philosophy concerning the resurrection, then introduced the exhortation. And he did not say, "Now concerning the collection for the beggars," nor, "for the poor," but "for the C saints"; training the listeners both to wonder at those who are in poverty, when they are pious, and to disdain those in wealth, when they disregard virtue. For he knows how to call even a king profane and lawless when he is an enemy to God, and poor men saints when they are upright and moderate. He even calls Nero the mystery of lawlessness, saying: *For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work* (2 Thess. 2:7); but these men, not even having a sufficiency of necessary food, but being fed from begging, he has named saints. At the same time, he was secretly teaching those others not to think highly of themselves, nor to be puffed up by the giving of the command, as if it were for some common and easily D
A performed deed, but to know clearly and convince themselves that it is a very great honor to share in the suffering of those others.
B Let us also examine the following: who are these saints? For he does not mention them here alone, but also elsewhere when he says: "But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints" (Rom. 15:25). And Luke in the Acts, when a great famine was looming, mentions these same saints in this way: "The disciples, according to their means, determined each of them to send to the relief of the brothers who lived in Judea" (Acts 11:29). And again, as I was saying before, he says: "Only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I was eager to do" (Gal. 2:10). But after we made such a division among ourselves, that the Gentiles were to fall to me and the Jews to Peter, we determined by common consent, he says, that this division should not extend to the poor. For when they were preaching, the one to the Jews, the other to the Gentiles, they were preaching; but when they were acting as patrons for the poor, the situation was not so arranged that one was responsible for the poor of the Jews and the other for the poor of the Gentiles; rather, both held great solicitude for the poor of the Jews. That is why he said: "Only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I was eager to do." Who then are those of whom he speaks here, and in the Epistle to the Romans, and in the Epistle to the Galatians, for whom he also urges the Macedonians? The poor of the Jews who dwelt in Jerusalem. And why does he have such great care for them? Were there not poor and beggars in each city? Why does he send for them, and ask all for their sake? Not without reason, certainly, nor rashly, nor out of favoritism; but usefully and conveniently. But it is necessary to repeat the matter from a little higher up. Since the affairs of the Jews had collapsed, and when they crucified Jesus, they had validated against themselves that voice, "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15), and were finally subject to the Roman Empire, they were neither of their own law, as before, nor entirely servants, as they are now, but they were established in the order of subjects, paying tribute to the emperors, and receiving their governors from them: for the most part they even used their own laws, and those who committed offenses among them they punished according to the customs of their fathers. That they paid tribute to the Romans is clear from this, that when they were testing Jesus they asked, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" (Matt. 22:17); but he, having ordered them to show the coin, said: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Ib. v. 21); and Luke says that they had soldiers and tribunes in the temple (Luke 22:52). These are not minor arguments that the Jews were subject to the Romans: that they used their own laws is clear from this, that they stoned Stephen when he was not brought to a tribunal, that they killed James the brother of the Lord, that they crucified Christ himself, even though the judge granted that he might depart free from every charge. Wherefore he washed his hands, saying: "I am innocent of this blood" (Matt. 27:24). And because he saw them C extremely insistent, he himself did not pass the judgment, but departed; but they, using their own tyranny, performed everything afterwards. They also often assailed Paul.
Because, therefore, they used their own tribunal, it happened that the fellow-tribesmen who believed suffered harsher things than all others. In other cities there were both tribunals and laws and magistrates; but it was not permitted for the Gentiles to kill or bury under stones any of their own who defected, by their own decision, or to inflict any evil upon them; or if anyone was caught having done such a thing outside the judgment of the judges, he was punished; but to the Jews great power was granted in this matter. Wherefore, those among them who believed suffered more severely than all others, as if they were intercepted in the midst of wolves, with no one to rescue them. Thus, certainly, they often scourged Paul: hear how he declares it himself: "Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned" (2 Cor. 11:24-25). And that these things were not said by conjecture, Paul himself declares while writing to the Hebrews: "But recall the former days in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly, by being exposed as a spectacle in reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming partners of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you accepted the plundering of your property with joy, knowing that you yourselves have a better and an abiding possession in heaven" (Heb. 10:32-34). And therefore he brought them into the middle: "For you, brothers, became imitators of the Churches of God which are in Judea: for you suffered the same things from your own fellow-tribesmen as they did from the Jews" (1 Thess. 2:14). Because, therefore, they suffered more severely than all others, and not only was there no mercy dealt with them, but even all their things were plundered and carried off, and they were driven out on all sides, rightly does he stir up everyone to take up their patronage. And again he urges the Corinthians for their sake with these words: "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do" (1 Cor. 16:1).
That he takes greater care of them has already been sufficiently demonstrated; it remains that we ask also why he mentioned the Galatians. And why did he not say: "Now concerning the collection for the saints do this: let each of you lay aside at home, treasuring up," but after he had said, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do"? Why does he do this, and mention not one or two or three cities, but a whole nation? That they might undertake greater zeal, and that the praises of others might be an occasion of greater emulation for them. Then he declares the manner in which he commanded: "On the first day of the week, he says, each of you lay aside at home, storing up whatever he may have been pleased with, that when I come, the collections may not be made" (1 Cor. 16:2). He called the first day of the week the Lord's Day. And why does he appoint such a day for the offering? Why did he not say, the second day of the week or the third day of the week, or on the Sabbaths themselves? Not rashly, for certain, nor without cause; but because he wished to be helped by the timeliness of the day, so that greater zeal might come to those offering.
And is there no small appropriateness of time in all things? And what, you say, does the time have that is appropriate for persuading one to give alms? On this day, the abstaining from all labor, the becoming more cheerful in soul from the rest, and, greatest of all, the fact that we have enjoyed countless blessings on this very day. For on this day death was destroyed, the curse extinguished, sin vanished, the gates of Hades broken, the devil became a prisoner, the long-standing war was abolished, and reconciliations of God toward men were made; and our race returned to its former, or rather to a far greater, nobility; and the sun beheld that wondrous and paradoxical spectacle: man become immortal. A Wishing to remind us of all these things, and of such things as these, he brought the day into the middle, taking it almost as an advocate, and saying to each one: Consider how many and how great goods you have enjoyed on this day, O man; of how many evils you have been relieved; who you were before, who you became after these things. And if many even of the servants celebrate with great honor their own birthdays, and those in which they were set free, B and some provide banquets, while others are set free and given gifts, honoring the time greatly: much more is it right for us to honor this day, which one would not err in calling the birthday of the entire human race. For we were lost, and we were found; dead, and we have come to life again; enemies, and we have been reconciled. For this reason it is also fitting to honor it with a spiritual honor, not by making banquets, not by pouring out wine, not by getting drunk and dancing, but by setting the poorer of our brothers in great abundance. I say these things, not that you may praise them, but that you may also imitate them. C For do not think that these things were said only to the Corinthians, but also to each one of us, and to all who will be after us; and let us do this very thing which Paul commanded: and let each one on the Lord’s day put aside money at home; and let the matter be a law and an immovable custom, and we shall no longer be in need of exhortation or advice; for speech and exhortation do not have such power to accomplish such things as a custom confirmed by time. If we ratify this, to put aside something on the Lord's day for the relief of the poor, not even if ten thousand necessities should arise, shall we transgress this law.
But having said, *On the first day of the week*, he added, *Each one of you*. I do not say to the rich alone, he says, but also to the poor; D not only to the free, but also to the slaves; not only to men, but also to women. Let no one be exempt from this ministry, nor without a share in the profit, but let each bring in. For poverty would not be an impediment to such an offering. For even if you are ten thousand times poor, you are not poorer than that widow who emptied her whole substance (Luke 21:2–4). Even if you are ten thousand times a beggar, you are not poorer than the Sidonian woman, who had only a handful of flour, nor even so was she straitened in the reception of the prophet; but seeing also a choir of children standing around, and hunger pressing upon her, and nothing else laid away, with great eagerness she received the prophet (3 Kings 17:10 ff.).
And for what reason did he say, *that he may treasure up by himself*? Since he who was putting it aside was perhaps ashamed and blushed to show a little. For this reason he says, Do you keep it and guard it, and when, by the contributions made part by part, the little becomes much, then bring it into the middle. And he did not say, collecting, but, *treasuring up*, so that you may learn that this expenditure is a treasure, that this giving is a revenue; a treasure better than every treasure. For this one, the perceptible, is both plotted against and diminished, and often has ruined those who found it; but the one in the heavens is the complete opposite: it is unconsumable and immune to being plotted against, a salvation to those who possess it; it is not consumed by time, it is not snatched away by envy, but is invulnerable to all such plots, and brings ten thousand goods to those who possess it.
4. Let us be persuaded, therefore, and let us do so ourselves; and let holy money be stored up together with private money in our houses, so that the private money also may be guarded through these. For just as in royal treasuries, if the money of any of those under rule is found stored, even those [private funds] enjoy much security on account of these; so also in your house, if you deposit the money of the poor and collect it on the Lord’s day, this will be a security for those other funds. Thus you also shall become a steward of your own money, having been ordained by Paul. What am I saying? Even the money already collected will become for you a subject and a greater occasion for collecting more things. For if you only make a beginning of this good custom, you will be able to rise up again by yourself, with no token being required. Therefore, let the house of each one become a church in this way, with sacred moneys stored inside. For indeed the treasury boxes lying here are a symbol of these. Where the money of the poor is laid, the place is inaccessible to demons; and more than a shield, and a spear, and arms, and physical strength, and a multitude of soldiers, the money collected for almsgiving fortifies houses.
Having said, therefore, when, and from whom, and how such money should be collected, he then left the quantity to those who bring it themselves. For he did not say that you should bring so much and so much, so that the command might not become heavy, as many bring forward their poverty; so that the poor may not say, What then, if we cannot? But he defined the measure of the contribution by the power of those who bring it. *Each one of you*, he says, *let him treasure up by himself, whatever he may prosper in*. And he did not say, whatever he might be able, whatever might be found, but *Whatever he may prosper in*; showing that he will also have grace from above and favor cooperating with him. For Paul was not concerned only with this, that money should be brought to the poor, but also that [it should be done] with great eagerness. For God also determined almsgiving for this reason, not that those in need might merely be fed, but that those who provide might also be benefited, and because of these even more than because of those. For if he were concerned only with those, he would have commanded that the money be given, he would not have sought the eagerness of those who give; but now you see the Apostle ordering this especially clearly, that it is how they might provide joyfully, how they might be cheerful, not from necessity; *for God loves a cheerful giver* (2 Cor. 9:7). And sometimes he says: *Not out of sorrow or out of necessity*; but not simply a giver, but one who does this with pleasure. And again elsewhere: *He who gives, in simplicity; he who manages, in diligence; he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness* (Rom. 12:8). This is true almsgiving, if you give in such a way that you rejoice, and…
987 A (Rom. 12:8). For this is almsgiving: if you give in such a way that you rejoice, and think that you receive rather than give. And for this reason, he tries in every way to make the commandment easy, so that the offering may be made with alacrity. And observe with how many heads he strives to remove the weight of the precept. First, he commands not one, or two, or three to offer, but the whole city. For a collection is nothing else than a contribution and B a symbol offered by all. Second, he looks to the dignity of the recipients; for he did not say, "the poor," but "the saints." Third, he brings forward the example of others who had done something similar: *As I have ordered*, he says, *to the Churches of Galatia*. In addition to these, he adds the convenience of the time: *On the first day of the week*, he says, *let each one of you lay aside at home, storing up*. Fifth, he does not command the entire alms to be brought in at once, but bit by bit and gradually. For it is not the same thing to command all to be brought in on one day, or to distribute it little by little over a long time; for in this way the expense is not even felt. Sixth, he does not prescribe a measure, but leaves it to the judgment of the givers, and declares it to be that which is given by God; for when he says, *As it shall prosper him*, he indicates both. He adds a seventh way also, saying, *That when I come, the collections may not be made then*. For at once he both stirs them up, awaiting his arrival, and consoles them, signifying a certain day of his arrival. Nor content with these, he adds an eighth. What is that? *But when I am present*, he says, *whomever you shall approve by letters, them will I send to carry your grace. But if it be worthy that I also go, they shall go with me* (1 Cor. 16:3–4). See how alien to pride and how modest that blessed and generous soul is; see how solicitous, how full of love. For he did not wish, nor did he allow, that those who were to administer the money should be appointed by his own judgment, but he left the election of them to themselves, nor did he consider it a place of insult if they were appointed by the calculation and opinion C of the Corinthians, and not of Paul; on the contrary, he thought it would be absurd if the offering were theirs, but the choice of the ministers were his. And so he entrusted that to them, displaying his own modesty at the same time, and removing every handle and shadow of adverse suspicion. For although he was brighter than the sun and alien to every evil suspicion, yet he took care out of abundance to accommodate himself to the weaker, and to escape false suspicions. Therefore he says: *But when I am present, whomever you shall approve, them will I send to carry your grace*. What do you say? You do not sail, nor do you receive the money, but you entrust the matter to others? That they might not, therefore, thinking such things, become sluggish, see how he again guards against this. For he did not simply say, "Whom you shall approve, I will send," but what? *By letters*. Even if I am not to be present in body, yet by my letters I shall be present, and a participant in their ministry. Are we worthy, when he, shining with such great glory before all, rejects the honors of all, while we fret and take it badly if the prompt givers of such money are not created by our opinion and calculation, and think that an insult is being offered to us when some people spend their own money without consulting us? See also by what reason he makes mention of himself everywhere, nor does he forget anywhere: for he does not call it here a commandment, nor an alms, but "Grace"; showing that, just as it is the work of grace to raise the dead, to drive out demons, and to cleanse lepers, so also to help the poor is a work D of grace—or rather, this more than that; and although it is a grace, yet we have need of zeal and alacrity in order to choose and to will, and to make ourselves worthy of grace. He brought this, therefore, for consolation, that he would send his letters with them; but he added something greater, that he promised he would be a companion of their journey: *But if it be worthy*, he says, *that I also go, they shall go with me* (1 Cor. 16:3–4). Here I would have you observe his prudence. For he neither denied that he would go with them, nor did he promise it absolutely; but he left even that to the judgment of the Corinthians, and made them the masters of his own departure; indicating, if the gift were so great, he could be stirred to undertake the journey. When he says, *If it be worthy*, he hints at that. For if he had entirely denied that journey, he would have made them the more sluggish and idle; if he had promised it without doubt, he would have made them more negligent. Therefore he neither refuses entirely, nor does he promise; but he leaves that to the judgment of the Corinthians, saying, *If it be worthy*. For hearing that Paul himself would carry the offering, they were carried to that matter with greater zeal and alacrity, because those holy hands were to handle the gifts, and his prayers were to be added to this sacrifice. Furthermore, if the Corinthians did it with greater alacrity to turn over the gifts to Paul, to the Master of Paul you are about to give (for He receives through the poor), what excuse will you have? For unless it had been a great offering and worthy of much care, he to whom the whole orb of the earth was entrusted, and who had the care of all the Churches under the sun, would not have promised that he would administer the money. These things, therefore, weighing in your mind, whether it is to be given, or whether we are to minister to others giving, let us not be sluggish, nor sad because our wealth is diminished. For how would it not be absurd, while the farmer, casting seed and pouring out his goods, is not saddened, nor grieved, nor does he hold it as an expenditure, but thinks it rather a profit and a gain, although the hope is uncertain: that you, who are not sowing for equal things, but for much greater, and who are about to throw your silver into the very hands of Christ, should shrink, grow sluggish, and pretend poverty? Could not God have commanded the earth to bring forth pure gold? For He who said, *Let the earth sprout with the herb of hay* (Gen. 1:11), and presently showed it blooming, could without doubt have commanded that fountains and rivers continually pour forth gold. But He did not wish this, but left many in poverty, both for their own sake and for your usefulness. For poverty is more convenient for virtue than riches, and for those who are in sins, no small consolation arises from help provided to the needy. And so great is the care of this matter with God, that when He had arrived and, clothed in flesh, conversed with men, He did not refuse, nor hold it as a place of ignominy, that He Himself dispensed what concerned the poor. Although He had indeed made so many loaves, and performed whatever He willed by His command, although He could have shown six hundred treasuries at once, He did not wish it, however; but [alt-version omitted]
He ordered the disciples to have a money-box, and to carry what was deposited, and to provide from there for those in need. When, therefore, He discoursed enigmatically to Judas concerning the betrayal, A the disciples, not understanding what was said, thought, he says, that He had told him to give something to the poor. For, he says, he himself had the money-box and carried what was deposited. For God has great concern for mercy, not only that which comes from Him to us, but also that which ought to occur from us to our fellow servants; and in both the Old and New Testaments He sets forth ten thousand laws concerning this, ordering us to be humane in all ways—both through speech, and wealth, and deeds. And Moses B scatters words about these matters up and down in all his legislation; and the prophets shout this from the person of God, that "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Osee 6:6); and all the apostles both do and say things in accordance with these. Let us not, therefore, neglect the matter; for we are not benefiting the poor so much as we are benefiting ourselves the most, and we receive greater things than we provide.
6. I do not say these things now simply, but because many people are often overly precise C with those in need, examining their native land, and way of life, and customs, and trade, and the health of their body, bringing accusations, and demanding ten thousand reckonings regarding their soundness. Because of this, many even feign bodily mutilations, so that they might bend our cruelty and inhumanity through this drama of misfortune. And that one should complain of these things while it is summer, though it is terrible, is not as terrible; but to become such a cruel and inhuman judge in frost and cold, and to grant no forgiveness to those who are idle, D would this not have some excess of cruelty? What, then, does Paul say, he asks, when he legislated to the Thessalonians, saying: "If any will not work, neither let him eat" (2 Thess. 3:10)? So that you also might hear these things, and that you might discourse upon the words of Paul not only to him, but also to yourself. For the laws of Paul are laid down not only for the poor, but also for us. Let me say something burdensome and heavy: I know that you will be angry; nevertheless, I will say it; for I do not say this to strike, but to correct. We accuse these men of idleness—a matter that is often deserving of forgiveness; but we ourselves often do such things as are more grievous than any idleness. "But I have an ancestral inheritance," he says. Since, therefore, this man is poor, and from the poor, and did not have wealthy ancestors, is he deserving to perish, tell me? For this very reason, more than any other, he would be worthy to be shown mercy and pitied by those who have means. For you, often spending the day in theaters, or in councils and assemblies that have no profit, and speaking ill of ten thousand people, you think you are doing nothing terrible, nor being idle; but this wretched and miserable man, spending the whole day in supplications, in tears, in ten thousand hardships, you judge, and drag him to court, and demand reckonings? And where is this of human wisdom, tell me? So that when you say, "What then shall we say to Paul?" speak these things while discoursing not to the poor, but to yourself. Otherwise, do not read the threat alone, but also the forgiveness; for he who said, "If any will not work, neither let him eat," added: "But you, brethren, do not grow weary in well-doing" (2 Thess. 3:13). But what is their fair-sounding excuse? "They are some runaways," he says, "and strangers, and scoundrels, and having left their own homelands, they flow into our city." For this reason, then, are you angry, tell me, and do you cut off the crown of the city, because everyone thinks it is a common harbor, and prefers it to the one that gave them birth? For this reason, indeed, one ought to rejoice and be glad, because they all run to your hands as if to a common marketplace, and think this city to be a common mother. Do not destroy the encomium, nor mutilate the praise that is her patron and ancient glory. For once, when a famine was about to fall upon the whole earth, those who dwelt in this city sent to those sitting in Jerusalem—to those very ones, indeed, about whom this entire argument of ours has been set in motion—no small amount of money through the hand of Barnabas and Saul (Acts 11:30). Of what forgiveness, then, would we be worthy, or what apology, when our ancestors are seen feeding even those sitting far away through their own money, and they themselves running to them; yet we drive away even those who have fled to us from elsewhere, and we demand precise reckonings, and this while knowing that we are responsible for ten thousand evils? And if God were to examine our situation as precisely as we examine that of the poor, we would obtain no forgiveness, nor any mercy: "For with what judgment you judge," He says, "you shall also be judged" (Matt. 7:2). Become, therefore, humane and gentle to your fellow servant, and forgive many things that have been sinned, and show mercy, so that you yourself may obtain a similar decision. Why are you weaving troubles for yourself? Why are you being over-curious? If God had ordered us to investigate lives, and to demand reckonings, and to be over-curious about customs, would not many have been annoyed? Would they not have said to themselves: "What is this? God has made the matter difficult for us; for are we able to examine the life of others? Do we know the things sinned by such-and-such a person?" Would not many have said many such things? But now, when He has freed us from all such over-curiosity, and has promised to give the reward fully completed, even if those receiving it are wicked or good, we draw troubles upon ourselves. And from where is this evident, he says, that giving to the good and to those not such will obtain for us the reward? From the things He Himself said: "Pray for those who mistreat and persecute you, that you may become like your Father who is in heaven, for He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:44-45). Just as, therefore, your Master, with ten thousand people blaspheming Him, ten thousand committing adultery, stealing, robbing, desecrating tombs, doing ten thousand evils, does not desist from His beneficence toward everyone, but sets forth for all a common ray of light, common rains, and the fruits of the earth, demonstrating His own humanity; so you also do, and when the time comes for mercy and humanity, correct the poverty, resolve the famine, take away the distress, and do not be over-curious about anything further. For if we are to investigate lives, we will never show mercy to any man; but being blocked by this untimely over-curiosity, we will remain unfruitful and destitute of all help, and we will undergo much labor in vain and to no purpose. Therefore, I entreat you to cast out this untimely curiosity, to give to all those in need, and to do this with much bounty, so that we ourselves, on that day, may obtain much of the