Tercera parte. Tratado tercero: de la limosna y misericordia
The Necessity of Spiritual Understanding
The root of human ruin is the failure to reflect on the things of God, leading to a profound spiritual blindness.
All the saints agree that one of the primary reasons people fall is their failure to know and reflect on the things of God. That’s why, when the Savior wept over the evils of the world, this was the one he mourned above all, saying, “If only you yourself understood, even now!” In this way, he showed that a lack of such knowledge was the root of all other evils. The reason is that the things of God are so great, so powerful, and so full of power that they couldn't help producing profound effects and changes in our hearts if we reflected on them deeply. And the Prophet shared this judgment when he said, “A people without counsel or understanding.” If only, by God's grace, they would know and understand, look ahead, and reflect on God's works, because this would open their eyes and turn them away from the evils in which they now live.1 And the Prophet felt this just as deeply when he said, “Listen, foolish people without understanding: you have eyes but don't see, and ears but don't hear.” And he was entirely right to call them foolish—not because they lacked intelligence and understanding, since they had more than enough of both for comprehending and knowing the things of the world, but because they were so uncomprehending toward the things of God that it was as if they had no understanding at all.2 And so he says that though they had eyes, they didn’t see, and though they had ears, they didn’t hear, because they had plenty of eyes and ears for worldly things but were utterly unseeing and unresponsive when it came to their own salvation.
The Excellence of Mercy
Mercy is a divine virtue that makes us like God and is highly prized by Him.
I've taken this as the starting point for this treatise, where I'll speak about the virtue of mercy, because I'm certain that if people would stop to consider what Holy Scripture and the saints teach us about this virtue, there wouldn't be any need for a separate treatise on it. For just as there's no need for a treatise urging people to take care of their lives, since their own natural concern is enough for that, neither should one be needed to commend this virtue to them, because a very great part of our salvation and our life truly depends on it. And so I'll do no more here than briefly recount what Holy Scripture and the learned teachers tell us about this virtue, because if we consider it attentively, it will be enough—not merely to make people practice mercy in some ordinary way, but to send them searching for the poor and digging them out from under the earth so that they can show them mercy, rather than miss an opportunity for so great a good. No matter how attached people are to their own interests, I consider winning them over to this a smaller task than persuading them of the value of prayer, which we discussed above—even though prayer is a matter of words, while this is a matter of deeds. Prayer presents many difficulties that must be overcome, as we’ve already explained; but in giving alms, I see only one: parting with some of your property for God’s sake. Apart from that, this virtue is so beautiful and honorable, and so loved and valued by people, that no other virtue earns a person more goodwill or greater honor in the general opinion of the world. For this reason, many people who had no regard for God were very generous to others simply to gain a reputation and standing among them. So nothing else can stand in our way here except love of property and the argument that this love makes people use: “We have children, servants, and a household to support, as well as other needs to attend to; and we don’t want to take what we earned through so much labor out of our own family’s mouths to give it to strangers.” That is exactly the language of Nabal of Carmel. When David’s servants came to ask him for provisions for their master, he told them he wouldn’t take his bread, water, and meat from his livestock and give them to people he didn’t know. This seems to me the chief difficulty that keeps many people from practicing this virtue, and I readily acknowledge that it is a real difficulty. But among Christians, despite all these objections, God's authority alone should be enough to make us close our eyes to every difficulty and set everything else aside to do what he commands. Saint Basil advises this in one of his homilies: “If you have two loaves of bread and a poor person comes to your door, take one and give it to him for the love of God.” And when you give it to him, raise your hands to heaven and say these devout and gentle words: ‘Lord, I give this bread for love of you, even though it puts me at risk; but I value your command more than my own well-being, and from the little I have, I give one loaf to someone who needs it.’3 The beauty of such faithfulness and obedience should be enough by itself to overcome this small difficulty. You could also answer this objection by pointing to the beauty and excellence of this virtue, for mercy is certainly one of the most beautiful virtues, one of the most pleasing to God, and one of those most often commended to us in the divine Scriptures. Although charity, strictly speaking, is the highest of the virtues, that doesn’t diminish the dignity of mercy; instead, it makes mercy greater, because here we don’t separate mercy from charity but join it to charity, just as a river is joined to the spring from which it flows. And so, one theologian describes the difference between these two virtues this way: charity is a river of goodness that stays within its channel and runs between its banks, while mercy is a river that overflows its banks and spreads across the whole land. Beyond this, charity simply shares its blessings with others, while mercy not only does this but also takes their troubles upon itself. Thus mercy isn’t content merely to give what it has, as charity does; it goes further and gives itself through sorrow and compassion, which belong especially to mercy. This thought alone, combined with the previous one, should be enough to overcome the difficulty of practicing mercy. For if there were pagans who practiced virtue for virtue's sake alone—that is, for the beauty they found in it—so that they expected no other reward for doing good than doing good itself, how much more should this be enough among Christians?4 But I don't want to use that remedy now; instead I'll take the matter by another path more favorable to the language of the flesh and to the greed of self-interest itself, proving with the plainest reasons that the gains and benefits won by almsgiving are, out of all proportion, greater than everything a person could save by refusing it. To see this more clearly, let's put the temporary loss on one side of the scale, and on the other, all the gains and fruits—spiritual as well as temporal—that are won by that loss. This way, we can see which should take precedence, and whether it's reasonable to risk one for the other. And once this comparison is made, I'm certain that if you're a good judge, you won't only count it gain to be merciful at the cost of your property—rather, you'll be astonished that everyone who knows and understands this doesn't sell their estates, and even themselves, in order to give alms, as many saints did.✦ I. It makes people like God. So then, for this purpose, after we have already put on one side of the scale that loss we mentioned, let us put on the opposite side the first excellence this virtue has: that it makes people like God—and like him in the most glorious thing there is in him, which is mercy. It’s certain that the greatest perfection a creature can attain is to resemble its Creator; the more it possesses that likeness, the more perfect it becomes. It’s also certain that one of the things that most properly belongs to God is mercy, as the Church acknowledges in the prayer: "Lord God, to whom it belongs to have mercy and to forgive."5 And it says this is proper to God because, just as the creature, as a creature, remains poor and in need—and so receiving, not giving, belongs to it—so, on the contrary, since God is infinitely rich and powerful, giving and not receiving belongs to him alone by excellence; and therefore it is proper to him to have mercy and to forgive. It isn't only proper to God, but—as we understand it—among the perfections He shows toward His creatures, as Saint Thomas says in the II-II, q.6 30, it is the most glorious thing in Him, what He prizes most highly, and that by which He most wants to be known and praised.7 And so, in that magnificent vision in which Moses saw on the mountain the glory of God pass before him—where it is believed he saw God's very essence and beauty, in which he would have seen so many and such wonderful perfections—this was the one he proclaimed there most of all with a loud voice, saying: Lord, merciful God, gracious, long-suffering, and of great mercy, who show mercy to human beings to the thousandth generation; who take away the iniquities, wickedness, and sins of human beings.✦8 These were the words and testimonies the holy prophet gave about this Lord after that great and glorious vision—all of them praises and public proclamations of His mercy. But how great these mercies are cannot be put into words; that is why it is said that the whole earth is full of his glory: because it is full of mercy. For as Ecclesiasticus says, a human being's mercy is toward his neighbor, but the mercy of God is toward all flesh. So if God prizes this virtue so highly, and so great a glory it is for a human being to resemble God, how excellent must we hold the virtue of mercy, which makes a person like God in the very thing God himself prizes so much? So with this great reward the Lord invites us to practice this virtue in his Gospel, saying: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. On this Gregory the Theologian says: «Man, give thanks to God, because he did not put you in a state where you had to hang on other people's hands, but rather that others hang on yours.9 Therefore, strive to be rich not only in money, but also in mercy; not only in gold, but also in virtue, so that you may lead others in this possession just as you lead them in the others." Therefore strive to be like God toward the wretched, imitating the mercy of God; for it is clearly plain that nothing more divine can fit in a human being than doing good to other people. This, then, is the first excellence we place on this side of the scale: that it makes a person like God. And the one who said, "It is a great glory to follow the Lord and to resemble him," did not consider this a small thing.
The Spiritual and Temporal Gains of Almsgiving
Almsgiving is a profitable exchange that secures divine favor, forgiveness of sins, and eternal rewards.
II. The special favor of the merciful with God10 To this excellence I add another that follows from it: the special favor the merciful must have with God, because of this likeness they have to him.11 Since it’s true that likeness is a cause of love—which is why they say every living creature loves its own kind—if the merciful person is so like God, it follows that he must be deeply loved by him. For this is the reason Aristotle proves in his Ethics that the wise man given over to the contemplation of divine things is deeply loved by12 God, because such a person bears a great likeness to Him in their way of life. Likewise, since God is infinitely merciful, it's clear that He must love all those He finds clothed in mercy, as His true children and creatures who resemble Him.✦✦ So what is more worth esteeming than this? If people go to such lengths for the favor of their prince, and so highly esteem those who enjoy his favor, how much more should we esteem a virtue that makes us as much favorites and friends of God as we are like Him? III. A clear right to the mercy of God I add still more to this favor another very principal one, and one most rightly due to this virtue: that all the merciful have a clear right to God's mercy, because they have shown mercy to their neighbors.13 Of this they have many written bonds and signatures from God in various places of divine Scripture.14 For in one place it says: Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy. In another it says: Give alms from your goods, and don't turn your face away from the poor; because if you do this, God won't turn his face away from you. In another it says: In judgment, be merciful to orphans as if you were their father, and as a husband to their mother; then you will be like a son of the Most High, and he will show you more mercy than if he were your mother. In another it says: The soul that does good will be filled with good things; and the soul that intoxicates and satisfies others will herself also be intoxicated and refreshed by God.15 These and many other authorities declare how ready God is to show mercy to the one who shows mercy—which is one of the greatest goods that can be desired in this life. But the Holy Spirit is not content with this; he goes still further, making God, as it were, a captive of the merciful man, as can be gathered from two authorities in Proverbs by joining the one with the other. Of these, the one says: Whoever shows mercy to the poor lends money to God; the other says: Whoever receives money on loan becomes a captive of the one who lent it to him.✦ So then, if this is true, it follows as a sound consequence that God becomes, as it were, the captive of the one who showed mercy to the poor, since that person lent money to God.✦ What could be more valuable than to have God as your prisoner and captive—if one may put it that way?16 And what could be more desirable than to hold the keys to the depths of God's heart in our hands, so that he might show us mercy?17 Without a doubt, the merciful person holds these keys, just as Gregory the Theologian clearly states: "It is in our hands whether God shows us mercy."18 If we show mercy to our neighbors, he will have mercy on us. But if we lack this mercy, who will be there to forgive us? Therefore, show mercy to your neighbor, and consider God's mercy already yours."19 What could be more precious than this? IV. Through this, forgiveness of sins is obtained. I add still further to this grace another very principal one: that through this, forgiveness of sins is obtained. For without a doubt, though there are many means of obtaining this forgiveness, this is one of the surest and most principal. For this we also have just as many bonds and signatures in Holy Scripture as for everything already said.20 In one place, Ecclesiasticus says: Just as water puts out fire, so almsgiving resists sins. In another place it says: Kindness done in secret puts out wrath, and a gift hidden in the poor man's bosom calms the indignation of God. In another place, holy Tobit says that almsgiving frees one from every sin and from death, and does not let the soul go into darkness. Finally the Lord himself, in his Gospel, summed up this whole matter in a single word, saying: Give alms from all that you have left over, and everything will be clean for you.✦21 Because the prophet Daniel understood this so well, when he saw that heaven's sentence was coming upon the king of Babylon, he knew no other remedy to offer him than to say: Take my counsel, my lord, and redeem your sins with alms, and your wickedness with mercies done to the poor—for this is one of the principal means of obtaining this forgiveness, and when it is lacking, the one who asks for it is in danger.✦22 As a holy doctor says, "Whoever did not stretch out his hands to his neighbor—helping him in his hardships when he could—stretches them out to God in vain when he prays for his sins." In keeping with that, another doctor says: "If there were no poor, so many sins would not be forgiven." So the poor are physicians for our wounds, and the hands they stretch out to us are the remedies they offer. Nor does the physician do so much to give health to our bodies when he stretches out his hands and applies the poultices as the poor man's hands do when he stretches them out to receive our alms, to heal the wounds of our soul.23 Therefore, distribute your money well, and know that your sins go away along with it—as the Lord signified when he said that the priests were to eat the sins of the people: because, through the merit of the alms people gave them, they obtained forgiveness for the sins they had committed.24 V. It enriches with new merits25 But this virtue isn't content just to free a person from past sins; it also enriches them with new merits—because its store is so great that it provides for everything: enough to pay what's owed and enough to make them rich. The reason is that this work of mercy, insofar as it costs us something, makes satisfaction, and because it's done in charity, it is meritorious; thus, with the one it pays what is owed, and with the other it increases what it has.26 And of both we have a very clear figure in the story that happened to Elisha with a poor widow: when she asked him for help to pay her husband's debts, the holy man answered, "Woman, do you happen to have anything in your house?" And when she answered that she had nothing more than a little oil for anointing herself, the prophet told her to borrow many vessels throughout her neighborhood and, shutting herself in her house with her sons, to pour a little of that oil into each of those vessels, because by God's power it would multiply so much that there would be enough to pay the debts and then to live on. That is what the good woman did, and so what the Prophet told her came true. What is this if not a clear illustration of what this virtue does? For without a doubt, however poor a soul may be, if even so it still has a little of this oil of mercy and uses this woman's ingenuity—pouring a little of it on the needs of the poor, and doing this so secretly that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing—let it be sure that the fruit and merit of this sharing will multiply so much that there will be enough to pay the debts of all past sins and to grow rich with new merits. This is what the Prophet meant when he said: He poured out and gave his goods to the poor; but the justice and merit of this work will remain forever and ever. And for this reason the apostle Saint Paul calls almsgiving seed, when he says that whoever sows little will gather little, and whoever sows in abundance will reap in abundance—to make us understand that just as sowing, which seems to scatter and waste one's goods, does not waste them but increases and multiplies them, so pouring out one's goods for the love of God, where it seems they are lost, is not loss but growth; and this to such a degree that for one, a hundred are given, and after that, eternal life. This is why Solomon advises us: "Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again." Nothing seems more lost than what is carried away by a current, and that is how almsgiving looks to people of the world. But at the end of the journey, its fruit becomes clear when, at the hour of death, a person finds himself accompanied by this help, and afterward, in the next life, receives its due reward. This is the torch we must carry before us to light our way as we walk through the dark and shadowy region of the next life.27 And for this reason the prophet Isaiah, after having urged us to practice the works of mercy, goes on at once to say: If you do so, your justice will go before you, and the glory of God will gather you in.28 For one of the best titles there is for asking and hoping for glory is to carry before you the merit of this mercy.29 In this you see what a good kind of trade this is for transferring our treasures to heaven and placing in the next life what would otherwise have had, of necessity, to stay behind in this one. That saying of Saint Ambrose is well-known: "Those things cannot be called a person's goods which he cannot take with him; and for this reason, mercy alone is the companion of the dead." So it is that on that journey, where the world's monarchs and princes will find themselves alone and abandoned by all the company and magnificence of their stations, mercy alone will stand at their side; and it will not only accompany them, but will also defend them in the divine judgment, as will be said further on. For this reason, Saint Chrysostom says that, when you think about it, the one who does good isn't so much doing a good as receiving one, because he receives far more than he gives, since he gives his wealth to God, not to men.30 And in line with this, Gregory the Theologian advises us: "Let us give to the poor from the goods we possess here, so that we may be enriched with the goods of the other life, which we do not possess.31 Give a share of your wealth not only to your flesh, but also to your soul; not only to the world, but also to God. Take something from your flesh and offer it to the spirit; snatch what you can and set it apart from the fire that will consume it, and offer it to that Lord who will keep it for you forever."32 And this is exactly what the Savior advises when he says: Do not store up your treasures on earth, where rust and moth destroy your goods, and where thieves break in and steal; but store up your treasures in heaven, where they will forever be free from this danger. And in another place, he says: Make for yourselves purses that don't wear out, by placing your treasures in heaven, where nothing that enters it grows old or is corrupted. And elsewhere he repeats the same thing in other words, saying: Make friends for yourselves with the money of wickedness—that is, with the wealth that people commonly misuse—because with something as lowly as this you can win friends who will afterward receive you into the eternal dwellings.33 In this, you see clearly how, in this kind of exchange, a person receives far more than they give. For this reason, Saint Augustine says: “Remember, man, not only what you give, but also what you receive; for without a doubt, the poor man can say to you: ‘Look carefully—what I give you by receiving may well be more than what you give me.’34 If there were no one to receive alms from you, you wouldn't be giving away earth and buying heaven.✦ Don't mind me if you have nothing to ask of the One who made both you and me; for if you must ask Him, then because you heard me, you have, in this, done yourself the favor of being heard.35 So give thanks to the One who let you gain such a precious thing for such a cheap price.36 You give away what is lost to time, and you receive what lasts forever.✦ And so no one should say that he gives to the poor, because he can more truly say that he gives to himself than to the poor.»✦ So far these are the words of Saint Augustine. So, in light of this, what better exchange and better profit can anyone find than this? Because we give earth, and we will find heaven; we give the bread of men, and we will find the bread of angels; we give a pitcher of cold water, and we will find a spring of living water; finally, we give what we could not take with us, and we will be given what no one can take from us.✦✦✦✦37 So why don't we transfer our property to the place where our life will always be?✦ "What madness is it," says Saint Chrysostom, "to leave your goods in the place you have to leave, and not transfer them to the place where you are going to live forever?"✦ That is where it makes sense to put your property: where your home is."✦ For that, God left us a good remedy in the hands of the poor, who are the bankers of this estate, the carriers of this merchandise, the chest of Christ's treasures, and the fertile land in which Isaac sowed, which yields a hundred for one.✦✦38 From this it seems that the nature of these goods is to be kept when you pour them out, and to be lost when you keep them in a disordered way.39 So only that is yours which you gave for your soul; and everything you leave here, you may well have lost. So what more was needed—faith in these truths being granted—for people to give all they have for such great hopes, since what God's word promises is, on His part, more certain than what you hold in your hands?
Divine Help in Tribulation
Mercy toward the neighbor ensures that God will be merciful to us in our own times of need and prayer.
6. God's timely help in times of trouble But still, beyond these such great benefits and goods, I'll add other particular ones for which this virtue is also of great worth. One of them is God's timely help in tribulations—which, without a doubt, is rightfully due to the merciful person. For if the Savior says that by the measure we measure with we will be measured, it is only right that the one who helped his neighbor in his tribulation should be helped by God in his own. And if it is the way of faithful men and friends to repay in due time the kindness they received, and to help the one who helped them, what will that most faithful Lord do—who has so often said that the kindness done to the poor is done to him? This is wonderfully set before us by the blessings that the prophet David, filled with the Holy Spirit, gives in a psalm to merciful people, in these words: Blessed is the one who cares for the relief of the needy and the poor, for in the evil day the Lord will deliver him.✦40 May the Lord preserve him and give him life, make him blessed on the earth, and not let him fall into the hands of his enemies.✦ May the Lord visit him and help him on his sickbed; Lord, you have turned his whole bed in the time of his illness.✦41 So what greater blessings, what better prayers could one desire as a reward for the merciful? How deeply the Prophet's heart was attached to this virtue, given how he prays for the one who possesses it! And he did not ask them without cause, but because he knew that this reward had been ordered by God for him in just this way. For it is written: Brothers help their brothers in times of trouble; but the virtue of mercy helps far more than that. Elsewhere, Ecclesiasticus says that God keeps watch over those who practice mercy and remembers them for the future; and that when they fall, someone will be there to give them a hand so they may rise. The Lord promises us this same thing through Isaiah, saying: When your soul and your inmost heart take pity on the hungry, then, in the midst of darkness, light will dawn for you, and your darkness will grow bright as noon.42 Giving us to understand that when a person is so loaded with anguish and tribulations that no ray of light or hope appears from any side, then he will be visited by God in such a way that the darkness of his anguish turns into prosperity as clear as noon; as was plainly seen in the alms of that holy Tobit, for which he deserved to come out of such great darkness—both of bodily sight and of all the other anguish and hardships he was suffering; for it was only right that the one who so many times, for love of God, had helped his neighbors in their troubles should be helped by God in his own. This is what happened to that saint, and he understood that it would happen to all the merciful in their own way. When he recommended this virtue to his son, he told him that if he were merciful, he could be sure he was storing up a remedy for the day of need. 7. Having your prayers heard I’ll add yet another grace to this one: that a person is heard in prayer—and for the same reason. Just as you heard the cries of the poor when they asked you for mercy, it’s only right that God should hear yours when you ask him for it. That is why, after the prophet Isaiah said, "Share your bread with the poor, take the needy and strangers into your house, and clothe the naked," he added immediately: "When you do this, you will call, and the Lord will hear you; you will cry out to him, and he will say to you, 'Here I am,' because I am merciful, says the Lord."✦✦ It is as if he were saying more clearly: "Because I am merciful by nature, I naturally delight in mercy, and I love the merciful; therefore, I pay them back in the same coin—meaning that just as they heard the cries of the poor, they too may be heard in their own."43 And they are heard not only when they cry out, but even when they are silent, because mercy itself cries out for them, as Ecclesiasticus affirmed: "Hide the alms in the poor man's bosom, for from there it will be crying out for you to God."44 Conversely, whoever does not hear the cries of the poor will not be heard by God either, as the Wise Man testified very clearly: "Whoever shuts his ears to the cries of the poor will call out and will not be heard."✦
The Reward of Eternal Life
Almsgiving serves as a defense at the final judgment and a key to the Kingdom of Heaven.
8. The reward of eternal life What more could anyone desire beyond all this? To all these graces, I add the greatest and most precious one: the reward of eternal life and the defense that the merciful will have on the day of judgment through the favor of this virtue. Oh, how secure the cause of the one who appears before God clothed in mercy will be on that day! For, as holy Tobit said: Almsgiving gives great courage and confidence before the Most High God to all who practice it. If demons rise up against him, this virtue will defend him. For, as Ecclesiasticus says, it will fight against his enemies better than the spear and shield of the mighty. And if God himself should bring a charge against him and say that he holds him accountable for all the seven deadly sins into which he has fallen, he will answer him: "Lord, in recompense for those seven sins I present to you the seven works of mercy, in which for love of you I have always practiced myself.45 You said that the merciful were blessed, because they would obtain mercy. You said that by the measure we measured with, we would be measured. You said that almsgiving delivers from death and does not let the soul go into the darkness. You said that mercy is higher than judgment—meaning it prevails over the judgment of your justice, because while judgment condemns, mercy acquits. So, Lord, let the truth of your word stand firm and be glorified, and be pleased to show mercy to the one who showed mercy. What more shall I say? Finally, you affirmed with your own holy mouth that on the day of judgment you would separate the sheep from the goats—that is, the good from the bad—and that to the good you would say: Come, you blessed of my Father, and take possession of the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.46 For 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; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and in prison, and you visited me; and that the good would then answer and say: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink, or naked and clothe you?47 And the Lord will answer them: Truly I tell you, when you did that for one of these little ones of mine, you did it for me, and I received it, so I want to reward you for it now. So what greater reward could anyone imagine than this? How blessed those ears will be to hear these words from the mouth of the Son of God, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb: «Come, you who are blessed by my Father»! This alone would be enough—not just to make us show mercy, I’d say, but to send us across sea and land looking for someone to show mercy to, so that we might deserve to hear such a word on that day. But what does it mean that, even though there are so many virtuous works that merit the Kingdom of Heaven, nothing is mentioned here but mercy alone? There is much here to consider. First, we must contemplate the wonderful wisdom of God, who, knowing man's great stinginess—that he wants everything for himself—set before him such a great prize to incline him toward mercy, so that the magnitude of this reward might overcome the hardness of his heart.48 Here too we are shown the ineffable generosity of God and the desire he has to save us, for he went so far with us as to give us the greatest of all the world's goods for the least of all its goods.49 For the greatest of all goods is glory, and the least of all is money: and he gives the one for the other—something most precious for something most base. Finally, he gives us for money what he himself did not buy with money, but with his own blood.✦ Here too we are shown the wonderful goodness, charity, and prudence of God, who, knowing that there would be poor people in the world—for that was fitting both for them and for us, so that some by suffering and others by compassion, some by patience and others by mercy, might gain the Kingdom of Heaven—so deeply desired the remedy of both that he came to commend it with the most earnest words and promises that could be offered, saying: "What you did for one of these little ones, you did for me."50 For if a king were away from his kingdom for a time and wanted to entrust to the great ones of the realm a deeply beloved son he was leaving behind, with what more earnest words could he commend him than by saying: "Whatever you do for this son of mine, who remains in your power, you do for me, and as such I will reward you for it"? So with what other more loving words could this Lord commend the relief of the poor than by putting himself in their place and entrusting them like this?✦ Oh, the marvelous excellence of Christ’s poor, for in him the person of God is represented!✦ God hides himself in the poor: the poor person holds out their hand, but it is God who receives what is offered and who will provide the reward.✦ If the poor were kings or princes of the earth, I wouldn't be so amazed that he would commend them this way; but since they are, as they are, the dregs of the world, that God should join them to himself and put them in his place—what could be of greater nobility, and of greater goodness and mercy?✦51 This is one of the greatest praises of this virtue: that through it, a person has their case well justified and endorsed for the day of reckoning. That is why the Apostle says that this virtue is good for all things, since the goods of this life and of the next are promised to it.✦ Regarding these words, the Gloss says: "If someone practices works of mercy, even if they have other faults, they will be punished for them, but they will not be condemned." This is not to be taken of the one who, trusting in the alms he gives, keeps on in his sins, because such a person —as the Apostle says— provokes against himself the kindness and patience of God, who waits for him to repent.✦ This is all the more true because, as Saint Gregory says, "the one who gives their goods to their neighbor but doesn't keep their life free of malice gives their possessions to God and themselves to sin."52 So he offered to his Creator what was less, and kept what was more for his wickedness. Salvation is not promised here to the person who, with this hope, continues in vice; rather, these words clarify how significant a role this virtue plays among all others in reaching eternal life.53 Saint Jerome says this even more clearly in a letter to Nepotian: "I do not remember having read that anyone who gladly practiced works of mercy died a bad death."54 Because such a person has many intercessors praying for him, and it isn't possible that the prayers of many should go unheard. And if that is so, "great indeed—says a doctor—is the virtue of almsgiving, since with such great confidence it ushers its devotees into the Kingdom of Heaven. For she is well known to the gatekeepers of this Kingdom and to the guards of this palace; she is not only known, but honored as well, and so she confidently has the door opened to all those by whom she was honored.55 For if she was powerful enough to bring God down from heaven to earth, she will be far more powerful still to raise human beings from earth to heaven."56 And in another place the same doctor adds: "It is a marvelous thing that the poor blind man, receiving mercy from us, should help guide us to heaven, and that he who walks groping along the walls and falling into the ravines should be able to teach us the climb to the heights—because the virtue of mercy gave him that power." And for this reason, the doctors commonly say that the Savior chose to ascend to heaven from the Mount of Olives: to make it clear that the virtue of mercy—signified by the olives—is what raises human beings to that place.✦ Likewise, it is written that King Solomon ordered two doors of olive wood to be made for entering the Holy of Holies: also to make clear that through the practice of works of mercy—signified by this tree—human beings were to enter the Kingdom of God.✦ So then, if all our desires and hopes aim at that goal, and the virtue of mercy helps us so much toward it, who would be so hard-hearted and so much his own enemy that, to save a little money, he would choose to despise such a priceless treasure?57
The Necessity of Mercy for the Rich
Mercy is not merely an invitation but a necessity for those who possess worldly goods, lest they face judgment without mercy.
IX. Necessary for those who are able to practice it. But someone might perhaps say that all these graces already mentioned, great as they are, invite us to practice this virtue but do not compel us to use it, because by offering us great favors and means for winning heaven, they do not close off other paths by which it could still be reached.58 So, to leave no room for that claim, I add to everything already said the necessity of this virtue for anyone who has the means to practice it; because this is already like seizing us by hunger and putting a knife to our throat.59 This is also what all the Sacred Scriptures preach and affirm to us, just as much as what has already been said. For the same Lord who invites the merciful into the Kingdom of his Father for having practiced works of mercy, himself dismisses the cruel and inhuman from this Kingdom for not having practiced them: «Go, you cursed, into the eternal fire.» For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink; and so on. From this it appears that just as mercy opens the doors of this Kingdom to some, so cruelty and inhumanity shut them against others. For, as the apostle James says, judgment without mercy will be passed on the one who has not practiced mercy. So what will become of a person, however justified he may be, if he is judged without mercy? "Woe to a human life, however praiseworthy it may have been," says Saint Augustine, "if it is judged by you, Lord, without mercy!"✦ .60 And the same for anyone who has not practiced mercy: because without it he will be judged.✦ So says Saint Basil, in these words: "You did not practice mercy: you will not obtain mercy.✦ You did not open the doors of your house to the poor: God will not open the doors of heaven to you. You did not give a piece of bread to the one who was hungry: you will not receive eternal life."✦ And elsewhere the same saint says: "Be sure that the fruit must answer to the seed.✦ You sowed bitterness: bitterness you will reap.✦ You sowed cruelty; it will answer you.✦ You fled from mercy; it will also flee from you.✦ You hated the poor; He who for love of the poor made Himself poor will hate you, too.✦✦61 These and similar threats, while generally applying to anyone capable of practicing mercy—especially when great needs arise, even if they aren't extreme—apply above all to the heartless rich who, with their coffers full of goods, let the wretched starve to death. They are represented by the rich glutton in the Gospel who was so heartless toward poor Lazarus that he wouldn't even give him the crumbs that fell from his table. The rich of this world should take careful note of this, considering that, as Saint Augustine says, "this rich man was not condemned for having taken what belonged to others, but for not having given what was his own." That is why, once he was in hell, he asked for something as small as a drop of water: because he himself had denied the poor man something as meager as a little crumb of bread. This same person also stands for that other rich man in the Gospel who, when a year's harvest turned out well for him, instead of giving thanks to God for it, spoke to himself in this very way: "Here you have, my soul, many goods that will serve you for many years: eat, drink, and enjoy yourself." Regarding these words, Saint Basil says: "Oh, senseless words!62 Oh, strange madness! Tell me, I beg you: what more would you say if you had the soul of a pig?" Release from prison those riches you've locked away, you wretched man; triumph over that dark house where the money of wickedness lies imprisoned, and take the homes of the poor as the chest in which you store it, and lay up a rich treasure for yourself in heaven.63 What's stopping you from doing this? Isn't the poor man right at your door? Don't you have property from which to give alms? Isn't the reward ready and waiting? Don't you have a clear command to do this? And yet, with all that, can you say nothing more than this: “I don't have anything; I won't give, because I'm poor too”? You are poor, certainly: poor in charity and humanity, in faith and in hope.64 But you'll say: "Who am I wronging if I keep my property?" What do you call your property? Did you bring anything with you when you came into this world?✦ Why do you think you are rich and that other person is poor? It's certainly for no other reason than this: so that you might receive the reward of kindness and faithful management of your property by giving alms, and that the other person might be honored with the crown of patience.✦ Look, then, at what you're doing by holding onto what belongs not only to you, but also to your neighbor. See that the bread you unjustly hoard belongs to the poor, the clothing you keep in your chest belongs to the naked, the shoe that grows old in your house belongs to the one who goes barefoot, and the money you hide in the ground belongs to the poor.✦✦ See that riches are the redemption of souls, and that by keeping them you lose them, and by losing them for God you keep them.✦✦65 I myself saw some who fasted, prayed, and wept over their past sins, and finally practiced every work of virtue that cost them no money; and for all that, they would not give a single maravedí for God's sake, though they had more than enough wealth.66 What good did their diligence in all those other virtues do them, since they didn't attain the Kingdom of God through them? Up to this point these are the words of Saint Basil, gathered from various places in his writings; and they make plain how necessary this virtue is for those who have abundance with which to practice it. For if all the graces and excellences already set out were not enough to win our hearts to these works, let at least necessity itself be enough—necessity, which conquers all things.67 And for greater proof of this, I add here that fearful sentence of Saint John, which says: If anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother suffering need, and does not open his heart to help him, how can we say that the love of God is in him?68 Little children, let us not love with words alone, but also with deeds and in truth. So what could be more fearful than this? If failing to help someone in great need proves that a person lacks charity, what will become of the wealthy in this world who pay so little attention to this? For where there is no charity, there is no grace, and where there is no grace, there is no glory; and if that’s the case, with what pleasure and consolation can anyone live who remains in such a dangerous state?
Temporal Blessings and the Faith of the Giver
God promises temporal prosperity to the merciful, and the refusal to give is a sign of a lack of faith.
X. Temporal blessings and prosperity. All these things clearly show us how highly we should value a virtue that helps us toward so many and such great things. And, to be sure, a heart that is not moved to mercy by such pledges as these must be very hard, very greedy, and very poor in mercy.69 But if there’s anyone so blind, so devoted to his own interest, and such a poor judge of things that he values the paltry goods of this life more than everything mentioned so far—so that nothing has any worth in his heart but interest alone—we won't argue with him about it; on the contrary, by this very path we will fill his hands with the very thing he desires.7071 For the goodness of God is so supreme and so wonderful, and his regard for those who do good is so high, that he wants to give them their reward not only in the next life but also in this one.72 This may seem like something new, but we'll also find it attested in the divine Scriptures, just like all the others. And I don't want to cite for this the authorities and promises of the old Law, or that famous twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, where so many blessings and temporal prosperities are promised to those who keep the law—because that was very common under that state of things. Instead I cite for this those words of Solomon that say: Honor God with your wealth, and do good to the poor from its first fruits, and with this your barns will be filled with plenty, and your winepresses with wine.73 And beyond this promise we have another that says: Whoever gives to the poor will never find himself in need; and whoever despises the one who asks him for alms will suffer poverty. And Solomon himself repeated this same saying in other words: There are some who share out their wealth, and by this become richer; and there are others who take what belongs to someone else, and always live in poverty.74 But the Apostle testified to all this still more clearly when writing to Timothy, his disciple, saying: Train yourself in works of piety, because bodily exercises are of little profit; but piety is good for everything, since the goods of this life and of the next are promised to it.75 Do you see, then, how everything is promised to the merciful person—what is here and what is there, the goods of this age and those of heaven? So if your heart wasn't moved to this virtue by the promises of spiritual goods, here you already have what you desire: the temporal goods that are also promised to the one who gives what he has for love of God. And for this reason the Wise Man advises us to give seven parts, and eight parts, of our wealth for God's sake: the seven, so that through them we may gain the goods that belong to this life, signified by the number seven, which makes a week; and the eight, which exceed that number by one degree, so that we may gain the goods of the next life, which is signified by this number eight.76 Finally, all these authorities say what the Savior summed up in a single phrase in the Gospel when he said: Date, et dabitur vobis—that is: Give, and it will be given to you. The same Lord who promised this showed it to us clearly through the widow who shared with Elijah the little she had—nothing more than a bit of flour and a small jar of oil—which she had saved for herself and her son during a famine. But even so, when the prophet asked her for alms, she prepared food for him first rather than for herself; and she did not give him a little from much, but gave all of the little she had; and while her son was going hungry, she feeds the prophet first rather than her son; and, placed in such great need, she thought first of mercy rather than of her own need. Yet for this faith and generosity she showed, she deserved that neither the little jar of flour nor the vessel of oil should run out, until God sent abundance of rain upon the earth. From this it seems that the mother did not take from her son what she gave the prophet; rather, by this means she increased it. And this good woman, as Cyprian observes, did not know Christ, had not heard his teaching, and, not redeemed by him, had not received his flesh and blood as food; and even so she was as merciful as you have seen—so that from this one may see what punishment is prepared for the one who, living in the Church of Christ, is a rich man without pity, since this poor woman showed such mercy while still a pagan.77 But this isn't the only example we'll find to confirm this truth, because the histories and lives of the saints are full of similar wonders, where we read that the estates shared out with this faith and charity were multiplied—the Lord wanting to show the greatness of his goodness and faithfulness toward those who do something for him, and to prove the truth of that saying he spoke: Give, and it will be given to you. Now I ask you, brother: do you believe all of this is true? If you say no, it follows that you have no faith and aren't a Christian, since you don't believe Christ's words. If you say yes, you must then confess that by giving alms you don't lose your gain—rather, you multiply it, not only spiritually but also temporally.78 And even if you see no path or means for that, still it truly must be so, because God says it.79 If not, tell me: why do you believe that God is three and one? You'll say it's because God says so—because that alone is enough to believe it. Well then, the same God who says that also says that whoever gives to the poor will never be left in need.✦ So if you believe the one, even though it is beyond all reason, you must also believe the other, even though it is likewise beyond reason.80 If you believe that so firmly, how can you be so stingy about sharing your goods, when faith tells you that they multiply once shared? You confidently scatter wheat on the ground because you know it will multiply—even though that hope often fails you. If you believe even more firmly that the alms you give are seed that multiplies in heaven and on earth, how can you be so stingy with this sowing when you're so generous with the other? If you claim you don't see how giving away your goods can make them multiply, then you also don't see how God can be three and one. If you believe the one because God says it, you must also believe the other, since the same God says it; both hold the same authority—except that one costs money, and the other doesn't.81 Therefore, you must either deny the faith or admit that what Scripture says is true: whoever gives to the poor will never be in need.✦ So then, if God and the faith assure you of this—since none of the other spiritual interests move you—how is it that not even this temporal one moves you? Look: you can't excuse yourself from any side, because if you're after spiritual goods, here we give them to you by the handful, and if after temporal goods, here the Lord gives those too according to his measure.82 This virtue serves every purpose: for the goods of this life and the next.83 So what reason can you possibly give for not practicing mercy?
The Manner and Conditions of True Mercy
True mercy requires generosity, discretion, joy, and secrecy, reflecting the very nature of Christ's sacrifice.
11. A conclusion to everything that has been said. Let's go back to the beginning and make the comparison we proposed: put the loss of property that comes from giving alms on one side of the scale, and on the other, put all the goods that the word of God promises to those who give, to see if it makes sense to trade one for the other.✦ First, consider the excellence reached this way: becoming like God in what is most glorious in Him toward human beings, which is mercy. Also, consider being loved by Him as close friends—as people more like Him—which is the second benefit. Add to this that all who have practiced mercy toward others have God's mercy so ready and so well earned. Combine these with all the other goods that follow: forgiveness of sins, growth in merits, treasure for the life to come, help in tribulations, power in prayer, a defense for the day of judgment, salvation, and everlasting life. Finally, add the provision of temporal goods that God promises to anyone who shares what they have with the poor.✦✦✦✦8485 Load all these things onto the scale, and on the other side, put a small loss of property. Once that's done, let's see if it's right for anyone with sense and reason to refuse such great goods for such a small temporal loss. I don't know who, considering this deeply, wouldn't be ashamed of themselves if they ever found themselves stingy toward God when God was offering them such a rich bargain.86 That's why I said at the beginning that a lack of light and careful thought is the main cause of our evils. For who, setting all these things before their eyes, wouldn't count it a gain to lose everything they have in order to enjoy so many goods?✦ What loss could be so great that it wouldn't be more than fully repaid by all these benefits?✦ Since this is so, it's a great wonder to see how, in our day, greed burns so hot and charity has grown so cold among Christians.✦87 I'm certain that if unbelievers knew this, they would be shocked and stunned that people who have faith in these truths don't sell everything they own to enjoy such goods, because anything less than that doesn't worthily answer the dignity of such great hopes—just as many saints did. But if anyone is still so blind and so stubborn that he wants to plead the loss to his estate, and providing for his children, as a reason not to give alms, let him hear what the blessed martyr Cyprian says against this, in these words: "You fear, you wretched man, that your inheritance will fail if you are generous toward God, and you don't notice that, while you're afraid your property will fail, your life is failing every day; and while you're watching so your goods won't shrink, you yourself are lost and dwindling, for you love money more than yourself; and so, fearing to lose the inheritance, you lose yourself to save the inheritance. You fear you'll run short of food if you're generous and merciful toward the poor. When did the just man ever go without food, since it is written that God will not starve the soul of the just?✦ Ravens serve Elijah as stewards in the desert; Daniel, shut in the lions' den to be eaten by them, is brought food by divine providence; and you fear that the one who works and serves God will go without food? "Look," he says, "at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor store up, yet your heavenly Father feeds them." Well then, aren't you worth more than they are? And God feeds the birds, and gives food to the sparrows, and to the young of the ravens that call on him. So if food isn't lacking for those who lack sense and knowledge of God, why would you think it would be lacking for a Christian, for a servant of God, or for someone who occupies himself with keeping His commandments and is loved by his Lord? Do you really think Christ won't feed the one who feeds him, or that he'll deny earthly goods to the one he grants heavenly goods, or that he won't provide a little bread and meat to the one to whom he gives his own flesh and blood? Where does this distrust and this sacrilegious, wicked thought come from in you? What is a faithless heart doing in the house of faith?88 How can someone who doesn't trust Christ take pride in the name of Christian? Why do you try to excuse yourself with those empty shadows of excuses? Confess the true cause of that hardness and uncover the secret of your heart. The cause is that the darkness of barrenness has taken hold of your mind, and once the light of truth fled from there, the deep darkness of avarice blinded your fleshly heart.89 You're a captive and slave of your money, and you're held fast in the chains of your greed; and though Christ once set you free, you yourself go back into captivity.✦ You keep money that, once kept, doesn't keep you, and you build up an estate whose weight knocks you down. Fix your eyes on that widow in the Gospel who, hemmed in by the distresses of her poverty, offered in the Temple treasury only the two small coins she had.90 Let the rich be ashamed of their barrenness, for the poor widow outdoes them in works of mercy.91 And since it's true that alms are commonly given to orphans and widows, the very one who should have received them is giving alms—so that from this we may understand what punishment is prepared for the hard-hearted rich man, when even by this example the poor person is warned to be merciful.✦ If you claim that having many children makes you less generous toward your neighbors, I answer that for that very reason you ought to be more generous, because the more children you have, the greater your need for God. The more children you have, the more people you have to ask Him for favors—and the more offenses you must redeem, the more consciences you must heal, and the more souls you must help.92 Just as in secular life a greater number of children calls for a larger inheritance, so in spiritual matters, as the number of children grows, the number of services must grow—just as we see holy Job did.✦93 If you intend to find a father for your children, don't look for one who is only temporal, but for the one who is spiritual and eternal. Offer your estate to Him, because He will keep it faithfully for your heirs. Let Him be the guardian of your children, their caretaker, and their protector against every injury the world can do them. An estate placed in God's hands isn't seized by the state, claimed by the treasury, or stolen by the slander of secular courts.94 The inheritance that has God as its keeper is in a safe place. This is how you provide for your children going forward; this is how you supply a remedy for your heirs with fatherly piety. Almost all these words come from Cyprian; through them, you'll see how weak the excuse is for those who, out of excessive concern for their children, stop helping the poor. Saint Augustine complains about these same people in similar words, saying: "Christ, in the poor person, asks of you, and you do not give to him, claiming that you are saving it for your children." I set Christ before you—and you set your children up against me? It is a great injustice that you should save so your son can waste it while your own God goes hungry—for he says: What you did to one of these little ones, you did to me.✦95 Knowing this, aren't you afraid to be stingy, considering who it is that is in need? You count out the number of your children for me: see that you must add another to them, and this one will be your Lord. You have one son: let this one be the second.96 You have two: let him be the third. You have three; at least make Him the fourth. Up to this point, these are the words of Saint Augustine. So what can human greed answer here against all this force of reasons? And yet, there is even more to say beyond all this. For, beyond everything already said, there is something else that ought to move us to mercy; for truly, even if this virtue were not so necessary for our salvation, and did not bring with it so many and such great spiritual and temporal benefits as we have set out here, the debt we owe our Lord alone for the great mercies we have received from him would be enough to make us lovers of mercy—even if there were nothing more. Saint Paul uses this reason primarily to urge the people of Corinth toward this virtue, saying: You already know, brothers, what the grace and mercy of Christ toward us has been—for though he was rich, he became poor, so that he might enrich us by his poverty.✦ So if God went so far as to become poor for love of human beings, what great thing is it for human beings to become poor for love of God?✦ And if God let himself be sold for love of human beings, what great thing is it for human beings to sell a piece of their property for love of God?97 Who would refuse a scrap of bread to the one who let himself be sold for him? Who wouldn't give a little of his property to the one who gave his blood for him? Who wouldn't endure a little want and poverty for the one who sacrificed his life for him? As Saint Bernard says, "If a person offered himself in sacrifice a thousand times over for this Lord, he still couldn't repay this gift." What comparison can there be between a human life and the life of God, or between a human person and the person of God? How can anyone be stingy with a scrap of bread when they are a debtor for so many lives?98 How are they not ashamed—those who acknowledge this Lord as Creator, Redeemer, and Glorifier—when they see how little they do for a Lord to whom they owe so much? This is a thought with which blessed Cyprian intends to confound and shame all Christians, seeing how little they do for their Lord, while the children of this age do so much for theirs. And so he says: “Let each of us now imagine that the devil comes out with all his servants (that is, with the people of perdition) to insult and shame the people of God in the presence of God himself, saying: ‘Look, Christ: for all these you see here with me I neither received blows, nor suffered scourging, nor endured the cross, nor shed blood for them, nor do I promise them the Kingdom of Heaven or the glory of paradise; and yet, look what great and precious gifts they offer me, and how freely they spend in my service what they earned over long years with hard labor—even pawning and selling their inheritance to pour it into the world's display. Show me, then, Christ, other servants of yours who serve you like that and spend their property for you. See whether these rich people, full of goods, do as much for you—you who are watching over them and governing them in your own Church. See whether they go so far as to pawn or sell their estates to spend them for you—or rather, to transfer them to the treasures of heaven and turn them into a better possession. And look further: with these gifts my people offer me, no one is kept, no one is clothed, no one is sustained, because all of it is wasted on assorted meals and outfits, and so the whole of it quickly passes between the frenzy of the one who eats and the folly of the one who looks on; but with what your people spend, you yourself are clothed and fed in your poor, and you promise eternal life to whoever does this.✦ And even so, your people, who are to receive such great rewards, can scarcely match mine, who are to suffer such great torments. What will we answer to this, dearly beloved brothers? With what pretext will we defend the consciences of the rich, filled with this sacrilegious barrenness and covered by a dark night of such great darkness?✦99 What excuse will we have, seeing that we are less than the devil’s servants, and that we won't even repay Christ with a scrap of bread for the price of his blood?✦ So far, these are Cyprian’s words. They ought to be enough to shame people and make them more openhanded toward their neighbors—if only for what they owe God.100 This consideration moved the saints to go to such great extremes to meet this obligation, as their histories make plain to us. We read of Saint Elizabeth, daughter of the king of Hungary, that after she became a widow, she spent whatever she had left on hospitals and the poor; because of this, she fell into such great poverty that she had to support herself by the work of her own hands. Of Saint Paula, Saint Jerome writes that when that same holy man warned her not to go so far in giving alms, she answered that she desired nothing more than to go begging from door to door for God's sake, and to end her life in such poverty that she would not leave her daughter a single maravedí, and that after her death they would wrap her in a borrowed sheet.101 The same holy doctor writes that Saint Exuperius, bishop of Toulouse, fed the hungry while he himself was dying of hunger, taking the bread from his own mouth and going about pale with other people's hunger. He melted down the sacred vessels for this purpose, carrying the Body of the Lord in a little wicker basket and the Blood in a glass vessel.102 This same mercy is recorded of Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose, who ordered chalices and sacred vessels to be melted down to meet the needs of the poor. Well then, what shall I say of the mercies of other saints who, when they had nothing left to give, stripped off their own clothes and gave them to the poor, saying they would rather find themselves without clothes than without mercy? What shall I say of our glorious father Saint Dominic, who sold all his books and everything else he owned to give to the poor? When a widow came asking for help to ransom her son, and the saint no longer had anything left to give, he offered himself to be sold. And what this saint longed to do, the holy bishop Paulinus actually did, as Saint Gregory recounts in his Dialogues. After the holy bishop had spent everything he had on the ransom of captives, and no longer had anything left to give, he let himself be sold to a barbarian and became that man's gardener, so that the captive might be ransomed. These and countless other examples are found at every turn in the divine Scriptures. Tobit, a very holy man, was a man of great mercy, and through it he earned the right to receive such a great and wonderful remedy through the ministry of an angel. Zacchaeus, of Gentile stock, was so merciful that he spent half his wealth on the poor; for this he merited to be called a son of Abraham, and, what is more, to receive into his house as guest the Lord of the world.103 And that holy woman Tabitha, who in the Acts of the Apostles did so many kindnesses for the poor and for widows, obtained by these works, after she had died, to be raised by the Prince of the apostles. We would never finish, at this rate, recounting examples of holy men and women on this point. But if these aren't enough for someone, I don't know what could be. Therefore it will be good that, leaving this part behind, we take up the manner we ought to keep in using this virtue. XIII. On the manner people should keep in giving alms, and to whom it especially belongs to give them So for this it's necessary to know that, as can be gathered from the teaching of the saints, anyone who wants to practice this virtue perfectly must observe the following things. The first is that you be generous and free-handed in doing good—that is, don't be like some who are content to give the poor a trifle, and who seem to give more to free themselves from annoyance and spare themselves the pestering than to relieve the poor person's need; for of the one who gives in this way, Saint Augustine says: "Whoever gives alms to get rid of the asker's importunity, and not to relieve his need, loses what he gives and the merit of this work as well." This condition comes from the apostle Saint Paul, who says: Brothers, whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows in abundance will reap in abundance.✦ It's true that this measure should be appraised more by the desire of the heart than by the size of the deed. For, as Saint Ambrose says, "the affection of the one who gives makes the giver rich or poor, and puts a price on things." And Saint Gregory: "In the eyes of God the hand is not empty of gifts when the storehouse of the heart is full of good desires." For, as Saint Jerome says, "no one was poorer than the apostles, but no one left more for Christ than they did, because of the great willingness with which they left it." The second condition seems contrary to the previous one, but it isn't, since one virtue can't be contrary to another; and this is that there should be discretion and moderation in giving, so that liberality doesn't turn into prodigality if you give to those who shouldn't receive it, and more than is fitting; because «this is — as Saint Jerome says — to lose liberality with liberality». This condition is also from the Apostle, who says that we shouldn't give in such a way that others end up well supplied and we ourselves in need, but with a certain equality and proportion, by which the one who receives is relieved and the one who gives doesn't end up poor.✦ This condition is established because some people have been so excessively free in giving away their own belongings that later, when they lacked what they needed, they took what belonged to others. And so we generally see by experience that every prodigality ends in avarice, and that no one was ever prodigal with what was his who did not later become a robber of what belonged to others. The third is to give with joy and a ready will—as it is written that David and the princes of the kingdom offered everything they gave for the building of the temple, for which the holy king gave thanks to God and begged Him always to keep that readiness of will in them for the things of His service. This condition also comes from the same Apostle, who commands us to give alms not with sadness or under compulsion, because God—he says—loves a cheerful giver.✦ And he himself advises us to practice hospitality without sourness or grumbling.✦104 This condition matters so much for pleasing God and for the merit of almsgiving that its value is counted more by the readiness and joy of the will than by the size of the gift, as we said. The fourth condition—which in some ways seems to contradict this one, though it doesn't—is to give with a passionate heart.105 Our Savior kept this condition most perfectly in every work of mercy he did, since of all of them the evangelists commonly write that, moved by compassion and mercy, he did what he did. And the greatest work of mercy he ever performed—the redemption of the human race—proceeded, as Zechariah says in his canticle, from the depths of the mercy of our God, by which he was pleased to visit us from on high.106 Holy Job also kept this condition in his works. After recounting at great length all the merciful deeds he used to do, he finally added: "I once wept with the one who was afflicted, and my soul took pity on the poor."✦ The fifth condition is that almsgiving be done in secret. This is understood in two ways: first, that it not be done mainly for the world, but for God; second, that it be done secretly, especially for the poor who are ashamed to ask; and even for the other poor it should often be done secretly, so as to remove the occasion for vainglory—though it is also right that it sometimes be done openly, so the world may see that one does what a Christian ought to do.107 This is the condition the Master of heaven recommends to us in his Gospel so often and so urgently that he doesn't want the left hand to know what the right hand is doing—so that our almsgiving may be in secret, and our Father who sees it in secret may reward us openly.✦ And of those who do the opposite, he says they have already received their reward in this world.✦ The sixth condition is that whoever is to give alms should give them right away, without delay, because that way the gift will be all the greater the more promptly it's given; for the common proverb says that "he who gives promptly gives twice." This condition comes from the Wise Man, who says: "Do not say to your friend, 'Go away now and come back later,' if you can give to him at once." For it's proof that whoever gives late gives grudgingly; and you can't really say someone is giving if they only give after being heavily pestered; for it's a common saying that "nothing costs more than what is bought with begging." We have an example of this in the patriarch Abraham, who, just as he was very prompt in the obedience of sacrificing his own son (for he rose at once by night to go and sacrifice him), so too was he prompt in works of mercy; for when he saw those three men passing by his house, he ran at once to the cattle herd to bring a calf for them, and so everyone in his household hurriedly prepared the feast for the guests. So, since this condition is so important, where shall we place those who leave their alms until after their days are done?108 That is what Saint Lucy's mother intended to do, and the holy virgin gently rebuked her, saying: "It is no great thing to give God what you cannot take with you; so, while you live, share what you have with Christ." Saint Basil rebukes these same people in these words: "You tell me: 'I want to enjoy my goods in my lifetime, and after death I'll make the poor my heirs in my will.'109 Oh, how wretched you are! And so you want to be kind and generous toward people once you've become a sack of dirt? See that “no one does good business after the fair is over,” and that no one can guarantee you the kind of death you'll die—whether you'll be able to make a will or not.”110 The seventh condition is that, although it's right to examine the people you give to—so you don't take from the truly poor what you give to the false—still I wouldn't want you to be too prying an examiner of other people's needs, as some people are who, to cover up their avarice, refine and subtilize these matters far too finely. This condition comes from Gregory the Theologian, who says: "Don't examine too carefully who is worthy or unworthy of the alms you give, because it is better at times to give to the unworthy for the sake of the worthy than to risk cheating the worthy for the sake of the unworthy."111 The eighth condition is that alms must not come from what belongs to someone else, as many people's do, because that can't be called alms—it's sacrilege. For of such giving it is written: Whoever offers a sacrifice from a poor man's goods is like someone who slits a son's throat in his father's presence. And God is so hostile to this kind of alms that one of the titles He claims for Himself in Scripture is this: I am God, who love justice and hate robbery, even when it is meant as a sacrifice to Me.✦112 The ninth condition—to help us perform this work more gently—is that whenever an opportunity to show mercy arises, we should consider three things: who is asking, what they are asking for, and for whose sake they ask. The one who asks is not the poor person, but God in the poor person, as Saint Jerome says: "Every time you stretch out your hands to the poor, think that you are stretching them out to Christ."✦ What he asks for is not your property, but his own; because if Christ is heir and lord of all things, he is also lord of your property, of your person, and of your life, since it, along with everything else, is in his hand.✦ But if you consider for whose sake he asks, I say he asks for your sake more than his own; because for himself he asks for earthly goods, but he gives you heavenly goods, as the Lord said to that young man: If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven.✦113 These are the main conditions a merciful person must keep if their mercy is to deserve all the riches and goods we've discussed here. And prayer joined to this mercy is the prayer that flies most swiftly to heaven, and the one that deserves to obtain mercy before the divine presence.114
Read the original Latin
Sentencia es común de todos los santos que una de las principales causas de la perdición de los hombres es falta de conocimiento y consideración de las cosas de Dios. Por donde el Salvador, llorando los males del mundo, principalmente lloró este, diciendo: ¡Si conocieses ahora tú! ; dando a entender que la falta deste conocimiento era la raíz de todos los otros males. La razón desto es porque, como las cosas de Dios sean tan grandes, tan poderosas y de tanta virtud, no podrían dejar de causar grandes efectos y alteraciones en nuestro corazón, si profundamente se considerasen. Y no estaba fuera deste parecer el Profeta, cuando decía: Gentes sin consejo y sin prudencia. Pluguiese a Dios que supiesen y entendiesen, y echasen los ojos adelante, y quisiesen filosofar sobre las obras de Dios, porque esto les abriría los ojos y apartaría de los males en que están. Y no menos sentía esto el Profeta que decía: Oye, pueblo loco, que no tienes corazón, que teniendo ojos, no ves, y teniendo oídos, no oyes. Y llamolo con mucha razón loco, no porque no tuviese seso y corazón (y aun mil corazones para entender y saber las cosas del mundo), sino porque estaba tan bruto para las de Dios, como si del todo estuviera sin corazón.
Y así dice que, teniendo ojos, no veía, y teniendo oídos, no oía; porque, teniendo tantos ojos y oídos para las cosas del mundo, estaba tan bruto y tan muerto para los negocios de su salvación.
He tomado esto por principio deste tratado en que he de hablar de la virtud de la misericordia, porque tengo por cierto que, si los hombres se pusiesen a considerar lo que la Escritura divina y los santos nos predican desta virtud, no fuera necesario hacer della especial tratado. Porque así como no es menester hacerlo para encomendar a los hombres el cuidado de su vida, porque basta para esto el cuidado que ellos de suyo tienen, así tampoco lo fuera menester para encomendar esta virtud, pues en ella realmente consiste muy gran parte de nuestra salvación y de nuestra vida. Y por esto no haré aquí más que referir sumariamente lo que la Escritura divina y los doctores nos dicen de la virtud; porque, si esto se mirare con atención, bastará, no digo yo para usar como quiera de misericordia, sino para andar los hombres buscando y sacando los pobres debajo de la tierra para usar con ellos de misericordia, por no carecer de una ocasión de tan grande bien.
Y acabar esto con los hombres, por amigos que sean de su interese, tengo por menor negocio que persuadirles la virtud de la oración, de que arriba tratamos; aunque el uno sea negocio de palabras, y el otro de obras. Porque en la oración hay muchas dificultades que vencer, como ya declaramos; mas en la limosna no veo más de una sola, que es perder por Dios un pedazo de hacienda. Porque, por lo demás, esta virtud es tan hermosa, tan honrosa, tan amada y preciada de los hombres, que ninguna otra hay que los haga más bienquistos y más honrados, en la común voz del mundo, que ella. Por donde muchos, sin tener respeto a Dios, por solo ganar fama y crédito con los hombres, fueron para con ellos muy liberales. De manera que aquí ninguna otra cosa nos puede hacer contradicción, sino el amor de la hacienda y el lenguaje de este amor, que es decir los hombres «que tienen hijos, y criados, y familia que mantener, y otras necesidades a que acudir; y que no quieren quitar —lo que con mucho trabajo ganaron— de la boca de los suyos para dar a los extraños». Que es el lenguaje propio de Nabal Carmelo, que dijo a los criados de David, cuando le vinieron a pedir algún refresco para su señor, que no quería tomar su pan y su agua, y las carnes de sus ganados, para dar a gente que no conocía. Esta me parece que es la principal dificultad que retrae a muchos del ejercicio de esta virtud; y no dejo yo de reconocerla por tal.
Mas, entre cristianos, contra todo esto debería bastar la autoridad sola de Dios para cerrar los ojos a todos estos inconvenientes y posponerlo todo por hacer lo que él nos manda, como lo aconseja san Basilio en una homilía, diciendo: «Si tuvieres dos panes y llegare un pobre a tu puerta, toma el uno y dáselo por amor de Dios. Y, cuando se lo dieres, levanta las manos al cielo y di estas piadosas y dulces palabras: “Señor, este pan doy por tu amor, con peligro mío; mas yo estimo en más tu mandamiento, que mi provecho, y de esto poco que tengo doy un pan al que lo ha menester”». Sola la hermosura desta fidelidad y obediencia había de bastar para vencer esta pequeña dificultad.
Pudiera también oponer a esto la hermosura y excelencia desta virtud; porque es cierto que una de las virtudes más hermosas y más agradables a Dios, y que más veces nos es encomendada en las Escrituras divinas, es esta. Porque, aunque la caridad, hablando en todo rigor, sea la más excelente de las virtudes, pero no deshace esto en la dignidad desta virtud, antes la engrandece más, porque no apartamos aquí la misericordia de la caridad, sino juntámosla con ella, como a río con la fuente de donde nace. Y, así, la diferencia que un doctor pone entre estas dos virtudes es que la caridad es río de bondad que no sale de madre, sino que corre dentro de sus riberas; mas la misericordia es río que sale de madre y se extiende por toda la tierra. Y, demás desto, la caridad no hace más que comunicar sus bienes a los otros; mas la misericordia, juntamente con esto, también toma sobre sí sus males. De manera que no se contenta la misericordia con dar sus bienes, que es propio de la caridad, pero añade más darse a sí misma por dolor y compasión; que es propio de la misericordia.
Sola esta consideración, con la pasada, debieran bastar para vencer esta dificultad que hay en usar de misericordia. Porque, si hubo gentiles que hacían virtud por solo hacer virtud, esto es, por la hermosura que hallaban en ella, de manera que no esperaban otro premio por hacer bien, más que hacer bien, ¿cuánto más debería bastar esto entre cristianos?
Mas no quiero ahora aprovecharme deste remedio, sino llevar el negocio por otro camino más favorable al lenguaje de la carne y a la codicia del mismo interese, probando con evidentísimas razones que, sin ninguna proporción, son mayores los provechos e intereses que se alcanzan por la limosna, que todo cuanto el hombre pudiera ahorrar, negándola. Y, para que esto mejor se vea, pongamos en una balanza esta pérdida temporal, que por un cabo se pierde, y en otra, todos los provechos y frutos, así espirituales como temporales, que con esta pérdida se alcanzan: para que veamos cuál destas dos cosas debe preceder a cuál, y si es razón que se aventure lo uno por lo otro. Y tengo por cierto, hecha esta comparación, que si fueres buen juez, que no sólo tendrás por ganancia ser misericordioso a costa de la hacienda, mas antes te espantarás cómo todos los que esto saben y entienden no venden sus haciendas, y aun a sí mismos, para hacer limosna; como muchos santos hicieron.
I. Hace a los hombres semejantes a Dios
Pues, para esto, después de haber puesto ya en una balanza esta pérdida que dijimos, pongamos en la otra contraria la primera excelencia que tiene esta virtud, que es hacer a los hombres semejantes a Dios; y semejantes en la cosa más gloriosa que hay en él, que es en la misericordia. Porque cierto es que la mayor perfección que puede tener una criatura es ser semejante a su Criador; y, cuanto más tuviera desta semejanza, tanto será más perfecta. Y cierto es también que una de las cosas que más propiamente conviene a Dios es misericordia, como lo significa la Iglesia en aquella oración, que dice: «Señor, Dios, a quien es propio haber misericordia y perdonar». Y dice ser esto propio de Dios, porque así como la criatura en cuanto criatura permanece ser pobre y necesitada, y por esto a ella pertenece recibir y no dar, así, por el contrario, como Dios sea infinitamente rico y poderoso, a él solo por excelencia pertenece dar y no recibir, y por esto a él es propio haber misericordia y perdonar. Y no sólo es propio de Dios, mas a nuestro modo de entender, entre las perfecciones que tiene respecto a las criaturas, como dice santo Tomás en la II-II q. 30, es la cosa más gloriosa que hay en él, y de que él más se precia, y por la cual quiere ser más conocido y alabado. Y así, en aquella magnífica visión en que Moisés vio en el monte pasar ante sí la gloria de Dios, donde se cree que vio su misma esencia y hermosura, en la cual vería tantas y tan admirables perfecciones, esta fue la que él allí más proclamó a grandes voces, diciendo: Señor, Dios misericordioso, clemente, sufridor y de gran misericordia, que usas de misericordia con los hombres hasta la milésima generación; que quitas las iniquidades, maldades y pecados de los hombres. Estas fueron las voces y testimonios que el santo profeta dio deste Señor después de aquella tan grande y tan gloriosa visión, que todo fue alabanzas y pregones de su misericordia.
Mas, qué tan grandes sean estas misericordias, no se puede explicar con palabras, porque por eso se dice que es toda la tierra llena de su gloria: porque está llena de misericordia; pues, como dice el Eclesiástico, la misericordia del hombre es para con su prójimo, mas la misericordia de Dios es para con toda carne. Pues, si tanto se precia Dios de esta virtud, y tan grande gloria es parecerse el hombre con Dios, ¿por cuán excelente se debe tener la virtud de la misericordia, que hace al hombre semejante a Dios en cosa de que tanto se precia el mismo Dios? Pues con este tan grande premio nos convida el Señor al ejercicio desta virtud en su Evangelio, diciendo: Sed misericordiosos, así como vuestro Padre es misericordioso. Sobre lo cual dice Gregorio Teólogo: «Hombre, da gracias a Dios, porque no te puso en estado que te fuese necesario estar colgado de las manos de los otros, sino a los otros de las tuyas. Y, por tanto, procura de ser rico, no sólo de dineros, sino también de misericordia; no sólo de oro, sino también de virtud, para que así precedas a los otros en esta posesión, como precedes en las otras». Por tanto, procura ser como Dios a los miserables, imitando la misericordia de Dios; pues consta claro que ninguna cosa más divina puede caber en el hombre, que hacer bien a los otros hombres. Esta es, pues, la primera excelencia que ponemos en esta balanza, que es hacer al hombre semejante a Dios. La cual no tenía por pequeña el que decía: Grande gloria es seguir al Señor y parecerse con él.
II. La privanza de los misericordios con Dios
Sobre esta excelencia añado otra que se sigue de esta, que es la privanza que los misericordiosos han de tener con Dios, por razón desta semejanza que tienen con él. Porque, como sea verdad que la semejanza es causa de amor —por donde dicen que todo animal ama a su semejante —, si el misericordioso es tan semejante a Dios, síguese que ha de ser muy amado dél. Porque por esta razón prueba Aristóteles en sus Éticas que el varón sabio y dado a la contemplación de las cosas divinas es muy amado de
Dios, porque este tal en su manera de vida tiene grande semejanza con él. Pues así también, como Dios sea infinitamente misericordioso, claro está que ha de amar a todos aquellos que hallare vestidos de misericordia, como a legítimos hijos suyos y criaturas que se parecen con él. Pues ¿qué cosa más para estimar, que esta? Si tanto hacen los hombres por la privanza de su príncipe, y en tanto estiman a los que privan con él, ¿en cuánto se debe estimar una virtud que nos hace tan privados y amigos de Dios, cuanto semejantes a él?
III. Manifiesto derecho a la misericordia de Dios
Añado más a esta gracia otra muy principal y muy debida a esta virtud, que es tener todos los misericordiosos manifiesto derecho a la misericordia de Dios, por haber usado con sus prójimos de misericordia. De lo cual tienen muchas cédulas y firmas de Dios en diversos lugares de la Escritura divina. Porque en una parte dice: Bienaventurados los misericordiosos, porque ellos alcanzarán misericordia. En otra dice: De tu hacienda, haz limosna, y no apartes tu rostro del pobre; porque, si así lo hicieres, no apartará Dios su rostro de ti. En otra dice: En el juicio, mira que seas misericordioso a los huérfanos, como si fueses su padre, y como marido a su madre; y serás tú como hijo del Altísimo, y usará de misericordia contigo, más que si fuese tu madre. En otra dice: El ánima que hace bien será llena de bienes; y la que embriaga y harta a los otros, ella también será embriagada y recreada de Dios. Estas y otras muchas autoridades declaran cuán aparejado está Dios a usar de misericordia con el que usa de misericordia; que es uno de los mayores bienes que en esta vida se pueden desear. Mas no se contenta el Espíritu Santo con esto, sino pasa más adelante, haciendo a Dios como cautivo del hombre misericordioso, según se colige de dos autoridades de los Proverbios, juntando la una con la otra; de las cuales, la una dice: El que usa de misericordia con el pobre empresta dineros a Dios; la otra dice: El que recibe dineros prestados queda por cautivo del que se los emprestó.
Pues, si esto es verdad, síguese en buena consecuencia que Dios queda como por cautivo del que usó de misericordia con el pobre, pues este tal prestó dineros a Dios. Pues ¿qué cosa más para estimar que tener tal prisionero y tal cautivo —si decir se puede— como Dios? ¿Y qué cosa más para desear que tener en nuestra mano las llaves de las entrañas de Dios, para que use de misericordia con nosotros? Porque, sin duda, estas tiene el misericordioso en las manos, como claramente lo dice Gregorio Teólogo, por estas palabras: «En nuestra mano está usar Dios de misericordia con nosotros. Porque, si usáremos con nuestros prójimos de misericordia, él habrá misericordia de nosotros. Porque, si nos faltare esta misericordia, ¿quién habrá que nos perdone? Por tanto, ten misericordia de tu prójimo, y da por alcanzada la misericordia de Dios». Pues ¿qué cosa más preciosa que esta?
IV. Por aquí se alcanza perdón de los pecados
Añado más a esta gracia otra muy principal, que es alcanzarse por aquí perdón de los pecados. Porque, sin duda, aunque haya muchos medios para alcanzar este perdón, uno de los más ciertos y más principales es este. Para lo cual también tenemos otras tantas cédulas y firmas en la Escritura divina, como para todo lo pasado. Porque en una parte dice el Eclesiástico: Así como el agua apaga el fuego, así la limosna resiste a los pecados. En otra parte dice: El beneficio hecho en secreto apaga las iras, y el don escondido en el seno del pobre aplaca la indignación de Dios. En otra parte dice el santo Tobías que la limosna libra de todo pecado y de la muerte, y no deja el ánima ir a las tinieblas. Finalmente, el mismo Señor, en su Evangelio, en una palabra resumió todo este negocio, diciendo: Dad limosna de todo lo que os sobra, y todas las cosas os serán limpias. Y, porque entendía esto muy bien el profeta Daniel, no supo otro remedio que dar al rey de Babilonia, cuando vio que la sentencia del cielo venía sobre él, sino decirle: Toma, señor, mi consejo, y redime tus pecados con limosnas, y tus maldades, con misericordias hechas a pobres —pues este es uno de los principales medios que hay para alcanzar este perdón—; y, cuando esta falta, peligro corre el que esta pide.
Porque, como dice un santo doctor, «en vano extiende las manos a Dios, rogando por sus pecados, el que no las extendió al prójimo, socorriéndole cuando podía, en sus trabajos». Conforme a lo cual dice otro doctor: «Si no hubiese pobres, no se perdonarían tantos pecados». De manera que los pobres son médicos de nuestras llagas, y, las manos que ante nos extienden, son remedios que nos dan. Ni es tanta parte el médico para dar salud a nuestros cuerpos cuando extiende las manos y nos aplica los emplastos, cuanto lo son las del pobre cuando las extiende a recibir nuestra limosna, para curar las llagas de nuestra ánima. Por tanto, reparte bien el dinero, y sábete que, juntamente con él, se fueron los pecados; como lo significó el Señor cuando dijo que los sacerdotes habían de comer los pecados del pueblo: porque, por mérito de la limosna que los hombres les hacían, alcanzaban perdón de los pecados que cometían.
V. Enriquece de nuevos mereciientos
Mas no se contenta esta virtud con solo descargar al hombre de los pecados pasados, sino también lo enriquece de nuevos merecimientos; porque su caudal es tan grande, que en él hay para todo: para pagar y para enriquecer. Y la razón es porque esta obra de misericordia, por la parte que es penosa, es satisfactoria, y, por hacerse en caridad, es meritoria; y así con lo uno paga lo que debe, y con lo otro acrecienta lo que tiene. Y de lo uno y lo otro tenemos muy clara figura en la historia que acaeció a Eliseo con una pobre viuda, a la cual, como le pidiese remedio para pagar las deudas de su marido, respondió el santo varón: Mujer, ¿tienes por ventura algo en tu casa? Y como ella respondiese que no tenía más de un poco de aceite para ungirse, mandole el profeta que pidiese prestadas por toda su vecindad muchas vasijas y que, encerrándose en su casa con sus hijos, derramase un poquito de aquel olio en cada vaso de aquellos, porque, por virtud de Dios, ello se multiplicaría de tal manera, que hubiese para pagar las deudas y para pasar después la vida. Así lo hizo la buena mujer, y así se cumplió lo que el Profeta le dijo. Pues ¿qué es esto, sino figura clara de lo que obra esta virtud? Porque, sin duda, por pobre que esté un ánima, si con todo eso no le faltare un poco deste olio de misericordia y usare de la industria desta mujer, derramando un poco dél en las necesidades de los pobres, haciendo esto con tanto secreto que no sepa la mano siniestra lo que hiciere la diestra, tenga por cierto que se multiplicará tanto el fruto y mérito deste repartimiento, que habrá para pagar las deudas de todos los pecados pasados y para enriquecerse de nuevos merecimientos. Y esto fue lo que el Profeta significó cuando dijo: Derramó y dio su hacienda a los pobres; mas la justicia y mérito desta obra permanecerá en los siglos de los siglos.
Y por esta causa el apóstol san Pablo llama a la limosna simiente, cuando dice que, quien poco siembra, poco recogerá, y, quien siembra en abundancia, en abundancia cogerá; para dar a entender que así como el sembrar —que parece derramar y desperdiciar la hacienda— no la derrama, sino acreciéntala y multiplícala, así el derramar la hacienda por amor de Dios —donde parece que se pierde— no se pierde, sino crece; y esto en tanto grado, que por uno se dan ciento, y después la vida eterna. Por eso nos aconseja Salomón, diciendo: Arroja tu pan sobre las aguas que corren, que después de mucho tiempo lo vendrás a hallar. Ninguna cosa parece más perdida que la que va el agua abajo; y así parece la limosna a los hombres del mundo; mas al cabo de la jornada se viene a conocer el fruto della, cuando a la hora de la muerte se halla el hombre acompañado deste socorro, y después, en la otra vida, recibe su debido premio. Porque esta es el hacha que debemos llevar delante y que nos ha de alumbrar cuando camináremos por aquella región escura y tenebrosa de la otra vida. Y, por esto, el profeta Isaías, después de habernos encomendado el ejercicio de las obras de misericordia, añade luego, diciendo: Si así lo hicieres, irá delante tu justicia, y la gloria de Dios te recogerá. Porque uno de los mejores títulos que hay para pedir y esperar la gloria es llevar delante de sí el mérito desta misericordia. En lo cual se ve cuán buena manera de granjería es esta para pasar al cielo nuestros tesoros y poner en la otra vida lo que forzadamente se había de quedar en esta. Y así es muy celebrada aquella sentencia de san Ambrosio, que dice: «No se pueden llamar bienes del hombre los que no puede llevar consigo; y, por esto, sola la misericordia es compañera de los difuntos».
De manera que en aquella jornada, donde los monarcas y príncipes del mundo se hallarán solos y desamparados de toda la compañía y magnificencia de sus estados, sola la misericordia se hallará a su lado; la cual, no solamente los acompañará, mas también los defenderá en el juicio divino, como adelante se dirá. Por lo cual dice san Crisóstomo que, «bien mirado, no hace bien el que hace bien, sino antes lo recibe, porque mucho más recibe que da, pues da su hacienda a Dios, y no a los hombres». Y, conforme a esto, nos aconseja Gregorio Teólogo: «Demos a los pobres de los bienes que aquí poseemos, porque seamos enriquecidos con los bienes de la otra vida, que no poseemos. Da parte de tu hacienda, no sólo a tu carne, mas también a tu ánima; no sólo al mundo, sino también a Dios. Quita algo de tu carne y ofrécelo al espíritu, arrebata lo que pudieres y apártalo del fuego que lo ha de gastar, y ofrécelo a aquel Señor que para siempre te lo ha de guardar». Y esto mismo es lo que nos aconseja el Salvador, diciendo: No queráis atesorar vuestros tesoros en la tierra, donde el orín y la polilla destruyen la hacienda, y donde los ladrones minan y roban, sino atesorad vuestros tesoros en el cielo, donde para siempre estarán libres deste peligro. Y en otro lugar: Haced —dice él— unos sacos que no se envejezcan, poniendo vuestros tesoros en el cielo, donde ninguna cosa de las que en él entran se envejece ni corrompe. Y en otra parte repite lo mismo por otras palabras, diciendo: Granjead amigos con el dinero de la maldad, esto es, con la hacienda de que los hombres suelen comúnmente usar mal, porque con una cosa tan vil como esta podéis granjear amigos que después os reciban en las eternas moradas.
En lo cual se ve claro cómo en esta manera de contratación es mucho más lo que el hombre recibe, que lo que da. Por lo cual dice san Agustín: «Acuérdate, hombre, no sólo de lo que das, sino también de lo que recibes; porque sin duda te podrá decir el pobre: “Mira no sea más lo que yo te doy, recibiendo, que lo que tú me das. Porque, si no hubiese quien recibiese de ti la limosna, no darías tierra y comprarías cielo. No hagas caso de mí, si no tienes algo que pedir al que hizo a ti y a mí; porque, si has de pedir a él, porque me oíste a mí, a ti te hiciste en esto gracia de ser oído. Da, pues, gracias a aquel que te hizo cobrar una cosa tan preciosa por un precio tan vil.
Das lo que se pierde con el tiempo, y recibes lo que permanece para siempre”. Y, por tanto, nadie diga que da al pobre, porque con más verdad puede decir que da a sí, que al pobre». Hasta aquí son palabras de san Agustín.
Pues, según esto, ¿qué mejor cambio y mejor granjería se puede hallar que esta? Porque damos tierra, y hallaremos cielo; damos pan de hombres, y hallaremos pan de ángeles; damos un jarro de agua fría, y hallaremos una fuente de agua viva; finalmente, damos lo que no podíamos llevar, y darnos han lo que nadie nos podrá quitar. Pues ¿por qué no traspasaremos nuestra hacienda adonde siempre ha de ser nuestra vida? «¿Qué locura es — dice san Crisóstomo— dejar tus bienes en el lugar de donde has de salir, y no traspasarlos al lugar donde para siempre has de vivir? Allí es razón que pongas tu hacienda: donde tienes tu morada». Para lo cual nos dejó Dios buen remedio en las manos de los pobres, que son los banqueros desta hacienda, los portadores de esta mercadería, y el arca de los tesoros de Cristo, y la tierra fértil en que sembró Isaac, que da ciento por uno. Por do parece que la condición destos bienes es guardarse cuando los derramas, y perderse cuando desordenadamente los guardas. De suerte que aquello solamente es tuyo: que diste por tu ánima; y todo lo que aquí dejares, quizás perdiste.
Pues ¿qué más era menester —supuesta la fe destas verdades— para dar los hombres cuanto tienen por tan grandes esperanzas, pues lo que la palabra de Dios promete es, de su parte, más cierto que lo que en las manos se tiene?
VI. Oportuno socorro de Dios en las tribulaciones
Mas todavía, allende destos provechos y bienes tan grandes, añadiré otros particulares para los cuales también vale mucho esta virtud. Uno de los cuales es socorro de Dios oportuno en las tribulaciones; que, sin duda, es debido con mucha razón al misericordioso. Porque, si dice el Salvador que por la medida que midiéremos habemos de ser medidos, justa cosa es que el que socorrió al prójimo en su tribulación sea socorrido de Dios en la suya. Y, si es de hombres fieles y amigos pagar a su tiempo el beneficio que recibieron, y socorrer a quien los socorrió, ¿qué hará aquel fidelísimo Señor, que tantas veces tiene dicho que el beneficio que se hace al pobre se hace a él? Esto nos representan maravillosamente las bendiciones que el profeta David, lleno de Espíritu Santo, en un salmo, da a los hombres misericordiosos, por estas palabras: Bienaventurado aquel que trata del remedio del necesitado y del pobre, porque en el día malo librarlo ha el Señor. El Señor lo conserve y le dé vida, y haga bienaventurado en la tierra, y no permita que caiga en manos de sus enemigos. El Señor le visite y socorra en el lecho de su dolor; toda su cama rodeaste, Señor, en el tiempo de su enfermedad. Pues ¿qué mayores bendiciones, qué mejores plegarias se pudieran desear para galardón de los misericordiosos?
¡Cuán de corazón estaba el Profeta aficionado a esta virtud, cuando tales peticiones pide para el que la tiene! Y no las pedía sin causa, sino porque sabía que esta paga estaba así por Dios ordenada para él. Porque escrito está: Los hermanos ayudan a sus hermanos en el tiempo de la tribulación; mas mucho más ayuda para esto la virtud de la misericordia. Y en otro lugar dice el mismo Eclesiástico que Dios tiene sus ojos en el que usa de misericordia, y que tiene dél memoria para adelante; y que en el tiempo de su caída no faltará quien le dé la mano para que se levante. Y esto mismo nos promete el mismo Señor por Isaías, diciendo: Cuando se compadeciere tu ánima y tus entrañas del que tuviere hambre, entonces, en medio de las tinieblas, te amanecerá la luz, y tus tinieblas se esclarecerán como el mediodía. Dando a entender que, cuando el hombre estuviere tan cargado de angustias y tribulaciones que por ninguna parte se le ofrezca un rayo de luz ni de esperanza, entonces será visitado de Dios, de tal manera que las tinieblas de sus angustias se conviertan en prosperidades tan claras como el mediodía; según que claramente se vio en las limosnas de aquel santo Tobías, por las cuales mereció salir de tan grandes tinieblas, así de la vista corporal, como de todas las otras angustias y trabajos que padecía; porque justo era que así fuese socorrido de Dios en sus trabajos el que tantas veces por su amor había socorrido a los prójimos en los suyos. Así acaeció a este santo, y así entendía él que, en su manera, había de acaecer a todos los misericordiosos, pues, encomendando a su hijo esta virtud, le dijo que, si fuese misericordioso, tuviese por cierto que atesoraba en esto remedio para el día de la necesidad.
VII. Ser oído en las oraciones
Añado más a esta gracia otra semejante a ella, que es ser oído el hombre en sus oraciones; y esto, por la misma razón. Porque así como vos oístes los clamores del pobre cuando os pedía misericordia, así es justo que oiga Dios los vuestros cuando la pidiéredes a él. Y, por esto, acabando el profeta Isaías de decir: Parte tu pan con el pobre, y recoge en tu casa los necesitados y peregrinos, y viste los desnudos, añadió luego, diciendo: Cuando esto hicieres, llamarás, y el Señor te oirá; darle has voces, y decirte ha: «Aquí estoy presente», porque misericordioso soy, dice el Señor. Como si más claramente dijera: «Porque de mi naturaleza soy misericordioso, naturalmente huelgo con la misericordia, y amo los misericordiosos; y así les pago en la misma moneda, esto es, que como ellos oyeron los clamores de los pobres, así también sean ellos oídos en los suyos». Y no sólo oídos cuando claman, pero también aunque estén mudos, porque la misma misericordia está dando voces por ellos, según que lo afirmó el Eclesiástico, diciendo: Esconde la limosna en el seno del pobre, porque dende ahí estará ella dando voces por ti a Dios. Mas, por el contrario, el que no oye las voces del pobre, tampoco será él oído de Dios, como muy claramente lo testificó el Sabio, diciendo: El que cierra sus oídos a las voces del pobre, él llamará y no será oído.
VIII. El premio de la vida eterna
¿Qué más se puede, sobre todo esto, desear? Pues aun a todas estas gracias añado la mayor y la más digna de ser preciada de todas, que es el premio de la vida eterna, y la defensión que los misericordiosos tendrán en el día del juicio con el favor desta virtud. ¡Oh, cuán segura tendrá en este día su causa el que pareciere ante Dios vestido de misericordia! Porque, como dijo el santo Tobías: Grande ánimo y confianza da la limosna a todos los que la ejercitan, delante del sumo Dios. Si los demonios se levantaren contra él, esta virtud le defenderá. Porque, como dice el Eclesiástico, esa peleará contra sus enemigos mejor que la lanza y que el escudo del poderoso. Y, si el mismo Dios le quisiere poner demanda, y dijere que le hace cargo de todos los siete pecados mortales en que ha caído, responderle ha: «Señor, en recompensa de esos siete pecados os presento las siete obras de misericordia, en que por vuestro amor me he siempre ejercitado. Vos dijistes que bienaventurados eran los misericordiosos, porque ellos alcanzarían misericordia.
Vos dijistes que por la medida que midiésemos habíamos de ser medidos. Vos dijistes que la limosna libra de la muerte y no deja el ánima ir a las tinieblas. Vos dijistes que la misericordia es más alta que el juicio, esto es, que ella prevalece contra el juicio de vuestra justicia, porque, a quien el juicio condena, absuelve la misericordia. Pues, Señor, persevere y sea glorificada la verdad de vuestra palabra, y tened por bien usar de misericordia con quien usó de misericordia. ¿Qué más diré? Vos, finalmente, por vuestra santísima boca afirmastes que el día del juicio apartaríades a los corderos de los cabritos, esto es, a los buenos de los malos; que a los buenos diríades: Venid, benditos de mi Padre, y tomad la posesión del Reino que os está aparejado dende el principio del mundo. Porque tuve hambre, y dístesme de comer luego; tuve sed, y dístesme también de beber; era peregrino, y recogístesme; estaba desnudo, y vestístesme; estaba enfermo y encarcelado, y visitástesme; y que responderían entonces los buenos, y dirían: Señor, ¿cuándo os vimos hambriento, y os dimos de comer; sediento, y os dimos de beber; desnudo, y os vestimos? Y responderles ha el Señor: En verdad os digo que cuando eso hicistes a uno destos pequeñuelos míos, a mí me los hicistes, e yo lo recibí, y así os lo quiero ahora galardonar».
Pues ¿qué galardón se puede pensar mayor que este? ¡Cuán dichosos serán los oídos que oirán de la boca del Hijo de Dios estas palabras, más dulces que la miel y que el panal: «Venid, benditos de mi Padre»! Sólo esto bastaba, no digo yo para hacer misericordia, sino para andar por mar y por tierra buscando con quien usar de misericordia, para merecer oír en este día tal palabra.
Mas ¿qué quiere decir que, habiendo tantas obras virtuosas por las cuales se merece el Reino del Cielo, no se hace aquí mención más que de sola la misericordia? Muchas cosas hay aquí que considerar. Porque, primeramente, aquí tenemos que contemplar la admirable sabiduría de Dios, el cual, como conocía la grande escaseza del hombre, que todo lo quiere para sí, propúsole un tan grande premio como este, para inclinarle a misericordia, para que la grandeza deste galardón venciese la dureza de su corazón. Ofrécese también la largueza inefable de Dios y el deseo que tiene de salvarnos, pues vino con nosotros en darnos el mayor de todos los bienes del mundo por el menor de todos los bienes dél. Porque el mayor de todos los bienes es la gloria, el menor de todos es el dinero: y lo uno da por lo otro, que es una cosa preciosísima por otra vilísima. Y, finalmente, danos por dinero lo que él no compró con dinero, sino con su misma sangre. Ofrécesenos también aquí la admirable bondad, caridad y prudencia de Dios, el cual, como sabía que había de haber pobres en el mundo, porque así convenía que fuese para ellos y para nosotros, porque los unos padeciendo y los otros compadeciéndose, los unos con paciencia y los otros con misericordia ganasen el Reino del Cielo, por esto, deseó tanto el remedio de los unos y de los otros, que lo vino a encomendar con las más encarecidas palabras y promesas que se podían encomendar, diciendo: Lo que a uno destos pequeñuelos hicistes, a mí lo hiciste. Porque, si un rey se ausentase de su reino por algún tiempo, y quisiese encomendar a los grandes del reino un muy amado hijo que en él dejase, ¿con qué otras palabras más encarecidas lo podía encomendar, que diciendo: «Lo que hiciéredes con este hijo mío, que queda en vuestro poder, conmigo lo hacéis, y como tal os lo gratificaré»?
Pues ¿con qué otras más amorosas palabras podía este Señor encomendar el remedio de los pobres, que poniendo a sí mismo en lugar dellos, y encomendándolos así? ¡Oh maravillosa excelencia la del pobre de Cristo, pues en él se representa la persona de Dios! De manera que Dios viene a esconderse en el pobre, y este es el que extiende la mano, mas Dios el que recibe lo que se ofrece y el que ha de dar el galardón. Si los pobres fueran reyes o príncipes de la tierra, no me maravillara yo tanto que así los encomendara; mas, siendo como son las heces del mundo, que los junte Dios consigo y los ponga en su lugar, ¿qué cosa puede ser de mayor nobleza y de mayor bondad y misericordia?
Esta es, pues, una de las mayores alabanzas que se predican desta virtud, que es tener el hombre por ella tan justificada y abonada su causa para el día de la cuenta. Por lo cual dice el Apóstol que esta virtud vale para todas las cosas, pues a ella se prometen los bienes desta vida y de la otra. Sobre las cuales palabras dice la Glosa: «Si alguno se ejercitare en las obras de misericordia, aunque tenga otras culpas, será por ellas castigado, mas no será condenado». Lo cual no se ha de entender del que, confiando en las limosnas que hace, persevera en los pecados, porque este tal provoca contra sí —como dice el Apóstol— la benignidad y paciencia de Dios, que le espera a penitencia. Mayormente que, como dicen san Gregorio, «el que da al prójimo su hacienda, y no guarda su vida de la malicia, sus cosas da a Dios, y a sí mismo al pecado». De manera que lo que era menos ofreció a su Criador, y lo que era más guardó para su maldad. Así que no se promete aquí salud al que, con esta esperanza, persevera en el vicio, sino declárase por estas palabras cuánta parte sea esta virtud entre todas las otras para alcanzar la vida eterna. Y esto dice aún más claro san Jerónimo en una epístola que escribe a Nepociano, por estas palabras: «No me acuerdo haber leído que muriese mala muerte el que de buena gana se ejercitó en obras de misericordia.
Porque tiene este tal muchos intercesores que rueguen por él; y no es posible que no sea oída la oración de muchos». Y, si esto es así, «grande es, por cierto —dice un doctor—, la virtud de la limosna, pues con tan grande confianza introduce a sus devotos en el Reino del Cielo. Porque es ella muy conocida de los porteros deste Reino y de las guardas deste palacio; y no sólo conocida, sino también acatada, y así confiadamente hace que se dé la puerta a todos aquellos de quien ella fue honrada. Porque, si ella fue poderosa para traer a Dios del cielo a la tierra, mucho más lo será para subir a los hombres de la tierra al cielo». Y en otro lugar añade el mismo doctor, diciendo: «Cosa maravillosa es que el pobre ciego, recibiendo de nos misericordia, sea parte para guiarnos al cielo, y que, andando él arrimado a las paredes, y cayendo en los barrancos, sea poderoso para enseñarnos la subida a lo alto; porque este poder le dio la virtud de la misericordia». Y por esto dicen comúnmente los doctores que quiso el Salvador subir al cielo del Monte de las olivas: para dar a entender que la virtud de la misericordia —significada por ellas— es la que hace subir a los hombres a este lugar. Asimismo se escribe que el rey Salomón mandó hacer dos puertas de madera de olivas para entrar en el Sancta Sanctorum: para dar también a entender que por el ejercicio de las obras de misericordia —significadas por este árbol— habían los hombres de entrar en el Reino de Dios. Pues, si todos nuestros deseos y esperanzas tiran a ese punto, y tanto nos ayuda para esto la virtud de la misericordia, ¿quién será tan duro y tan enemigo de sí mismo, que, por perdonar un poco de dinero, quiera despreciar un tan inestimable tesoro?
IX. Necesaria para el que tiene posibilidad de hacerla
Mas podrá, por ventura, decir alguno que todas estas gracias sobredichas, por grandes que sean, nos convidan, mas no necesitan a usar desta virtud, porque, ofreciéndonos grandes favores y medios para ganar el cielo, no nos dejan cerrados otros caminos por donde se podría alcanzar. Pues, para que esto no haya lugar, añado a todo lo sobredicho la necesidad que tiene desta virtud el que tiene posibilidad para usar della; porque esto es ya como tomarnos por hambre y ponernos el cuchillo a la garganta. Esto nos predican y nos confiesan también todas las Escrituras Sagradas, no menos que lo pasado. Porque el mismo Señor que convida los misericordiosos al Reino de su Padre por haber ejercitado las obras de misericordia, él mismo despide a los crueles e inhumanos de este Reino, por no las haber ejercitado: Id, malditos, al fuego eterno. Porque tuve hambre, y no me disteis de comer; tuve sed, y no me disteis de beber; etc. Por do parece que así como la misericordia abre a los unos las puertas deste Reino, así la crueldad e inhumanidad las cierra a los otros. Porque, como dice el apóstol Santiago, juicio sin misericordia se hará contra el que no hubiere usado de misericordia. Pues ¿qué será del hombre, por justificado que sea, si fuere juzgado sin misericordia?
«¡Ay de la vida del hombre, por muy loable que haya sido —dice san Agustín—, si fuere de ti, Señor, juzgada sin misericordia!» . Y también de aquel que no hubiere usado de misericordia: porque sin ella será juzgado. Así lo dice san Basilio, por estas palabras: «No usaste de misericordia: no alcanzarás misericordia. No abriste las puertas de tu casa al pobre: no te abrirá Dios las del cielo. No diste un pedazo de pan al que había hambre: no recibirás la vida eterna». Y en otro lugar dice el mismo santo: «Ten por cierto que el fruto ha de responder a la simiente. Sembraste amargura: amargura cogerás.
Sembraste crueldad: esta te responderá. Huiste de la misericordia: ella también huirá de ti. Aborreciste al pobre: aborrecerte ha también aquel que por amor de los pobres se hizo pobre».
Estas y otras semejantes amenazas, aunque generalmente pertenecen a todos los que pueden usar de misericordia (mayormente cuando se ofrecen grandes necesidades, puesto que no fuesen extremas), señaladamente pertenecen a los ricos inhumanos, que, teniendo las arcas llenas de bienes, dejan perecer de hambre a los miserables. Cuya persona representa aquel rico glotón del Evangelio, que tan inhumano fue para con el pobre Lázaro, pues aun hasta las migajas que caían de su mesa no le daba. Lo cual deberían notar mucho los ricos deste mundo, considerando que, como dice san Agustín, «no fue este rico condenado por haber tomado las cosas ajenas, sino por no haber dado las suyas propias». Por lo cual, puesto en el infierno, vino a pedir cosas tan pequeñas como era una gota de agua: porque negó él también al pobre cosas tan viles como era una migajuela de pan. Esta misma persona también nos representa el otro rico del Evangelio que, sucediéndole bien la cosecha de un año, en lugar de dar gracias a Dios por ella, habló consigo mismo desta misma manera: Aquí tienes, ánima mía, muchos bienes, que te servirán para muchos años: come, bebe y huélgate. Sobre las cuales palabras dice san Basilio: «¡Oh palabras desatinadas! , ¡oh extraña locura! Dime, ruégote: ¿Qué más dijeras, si tuvieras un ánima de puerco?
Saca, miserable, de la cárcel esas riquezas que tienes presas; triunfa de esa casa obscura donde está el dinero de la maldad encarcelado, y toma por almario donde lo pongas las casas de los pobres, y atesora para ti un rico tesoro en el cielo. ¿Qué impedimento tienes para no hacer esto? ¿No está el pobre a la puerta de tu casa? ¿No tienes hacienda de que hacer limosna? ¿No está el galardón aparejado? ¿No tienes expreso mandamiento de esto? Y, con todo eso, ¿no sabes decir más que una palabra: “No tengo, no daré, porque yo también soy pobre”? Pobre eres, por cierto: pobre de caridad y humanidad, de fe y de esperanza.
Mas dirás: “¿A quién hago injuria, si guardo mi hacienda?” ¿Cuál llamas tu hacienda? ¿Por ventura, viniendo a este mundo, trajiste algo contigo? ¿Por qué piensas eres tú rico, y aquél pobre? Cierto, no por otra causa sino porque tú recibas el premio de la benignidad y fiel administración de tu hacienda dando limosna, y el otro sea honrado con la corona de la paciencia. Mira, pues, lo que haces en tener lo que no sólo a ti, mas también a tu prójimo pertenece. Mira que de los pobres es el pan que injustamente guardas, y de los desnudos la vestidura que en tu arca tienes, y del que anda descalzo el zapato que en tu casa se envejece, y del pobre el dinero que tú escondes en la tierra. Mira que las riquezas son redención de las ánimas, y que, guardándolas, las pierdes, y perdiéndolas por Dios, las guardas.
Vi yo algunos que ayunaban, oraban y lloraban los pecados pasados, y, finalmente, que se ejercitaban en todas aquellas obras de virtud que no les costaban dinero; y, con todo eso, no querían dar un maravedí por Dios, teniendo bienes demasiados. ¿Qué les aprovechó a estos la diligencia de todas las otras virtudes, pues no por eso alcanzaron el Reino de Dios?» Hasta aquí son palabras de san Basilio, recogidas de diversos lugares suyos; las cuales bien declaran la necesidad que tienen desta virtud los que tienen abundantemente con qué ejercitarla. Porque, si no bastaban a aficionarnos a ellas todas las gracias y excelencias pasadas, baste a lo menos la misma necesidad, que todas las cosas vence.
Y, para mayor prueba desto, añado aquí aquella temerosa sentencia de san Juan, que dice: Si alguno tuviere de los bienes deste mundo, y viere a su hermano padecer necesidad, y no abriere sus entrañas para remediarle, ¿cómo diremos que la caridad de Dios está en él? Hijuelos, no amemos con solas palabras, sino también con obras y con verdad. Pues ¿qué cosa más temerosa que esta? Si es argumento de no tener caridad no socorrer al que padece grande necesidad, ¿qué será de los ricos deste mundo, que tan poca cuenta tienen con esto? Porque, donde no hay caridad, no hay gracia, y donde no hay gracia, no hay gloria; y, según esto, ¿con qué gusto y consolación vive quien en tan peligroso estado vive?
X. Bendiciones y prosperidades temporales
Todas estas cosas, evidentemente, nos declaran en cuánto precio se debe estimar una virtud que para tantas y tan grandes cosas nos aprovecha. Y, por cierto, muy duro, muy avaro y muy pobre de misericordia ha de ser el corazón que no se mueve a misericordia con tales prendas como estas. Mas, si alguno hubiere tan ciego y tan amigo de su interese, y tan mal apreciador de las cosas, que estime en más las vilezas de los bienes temporales, que todo cuanto hasta aquí se ha dicho, de manera que ninguna cosa tiene precio en su corazón, sino solo el interese, tampoco por esto no nos desavendremos con él; antes por aquí le daremos las manos llenas para eso mismo que desea. Porque es tan soberana y tan admirable la bondad de Dios, y el respeto que tiene a los que hacen bien, que no sólo en la otra vida, sino también en esta les quiere dar el galardón.
Nueva cosa parece esta, mas también la hallaremos testificada en las Escrituras divinas, como todas las otras. Y no quiero alegar para esto las autoridades y promesas de la vieja Ley, y aquel famoso capítulo veintiocho del Deuteronomio, donde tantas bendiciones y prosperidades temporales se prometen a los guardadores de la ley, porque esto era cosa muy común en aquel estado; mas alego para esto aquellas palabras de Salomón, que dicen: Honra a Dios con tu hacienda, y haz bien a los pobres de los primeros frutos della, y con esto se hinchirán tus graneros de hartura, y tus lagares de vino. Y, allende de esta promesa, tenemos otra que dice: El que da al pobre nunca se verá en necesidad; y el que menosprecia al que le pide limosna padecerá pobreza. Y esta misma sentencia repitió el mismo Salomón por otras palabras, diciendo: Unos hay que reparten su hacienda, y con esto se hacen más ricos; y otros hay que toman la ajena, y siempre viven en pobreza. Pero muy más claro testificó todo esto el Apóstol, escribiendo a Timoteo, su discípulo, cuando dice así: Ejercítate en obras de piedad, porque los ejercicios corporales para poco son provechosos; mas la piedad para todo vale, pues a ella se prometen los bienes de esta vida y de la otra. ¿Ves, luego, cómo todo se promete al misericordioso, lo de acá y lo de allá, los bienes deste siglo y los del cielo? Por donde, si no se movía tu corazón a esta virtud con las promesas de los bienes espirituales, aquí tienes ya lo que deseas, que son los bienes temporales, que también se prometen al que da lo que tiene por amor de Dios. Y por esto nos aconseja el Sabio que demos siete partes, y ocho partes de nuestra hacienda, por Dios: las siete, para alcanzar por ellas los bienes que pertenecen a esta vida, significada por el número siete, que hace una semana; y las ocho, que exceden en un grado a este número, para alcanzar los bienes de la otra, que por este número de ocho es significada.
Finalmente, todas estas autoridades dicen lo que el Salvador en una palabra resumió en el Evangelio, diciendo: Date, et dabitur vobis; que es decir: Dad, y daros han.
Esto nos mostró muy a la clara el mismo Señor, que lo prometió, en aquella viuda que repartió con Elías esa pobreza que tenía, que no era más que un poquito de harina y una alcucilla de aceite, que para sí y para su hijo en un año de hambre había guardado. Pero, con todo esto, pidiéndole el profeta limosna, primero aparejó la comida para él, que para sí; y no le dio de lo mucho, poco, sino eso poco que tenía lo dio todo; y, padeciendo su hijo hambre, da de comer primero al profeta, que al hijo; y, puesta en tan grande necesidad, primero se acordó de la misericordia, que de la necesidad. Mas, por esta fe y liberalidad que tuvo, mereció que ni la tinajica del harina ni el vaso del olio faltase, hasta que Dios envió abundancia de agua sobre la tierra. Por do parece que no quitó la madre a su hijo lo que dio al profeta, sino antes por este medio lo acrecentó. Y esta buena mujer, como pondera Cipriano, no conocía a Cristo, ni había oído su doctrina, ni redimida por él había recibido su carne y sangre en mantenimiento; y, con todo esto, fue tan piadosa como has visto; para que por aquí se vea qué pena está aparejada para el que, viviendo en la Iglesia de Cristo, es rico inhumano, pues esta pobre mujer usó de tanta piedad, siendo gentil.
Mas no es sólo este ejemplo que hallaremos para confirmación desta verdad, porque llenas están las historias y vidas de santos de semejantes maravillas, donde leemos que las haciendas, que con esta fe y caridad se repartieron, fueron multiplicadas; queriendo el Señor mostrar la grandeza de su bondad y fidelidad con los que hacen algo por él, y probar la verdad de aquella sentencia que él dijo: Dad, y daros han.
Ahora pregúntote, hermano, si crees que todo esto es verdad. Si dices que no, síguese que no tienes fe, y que no eres cristiano, pues no crees a las palabras de Cristo. Si dices que sí, has de confesar luego que, dando limosna, no pierdes en la ganancia, antes la multiplicas, no sólo espiritualmente, sino también temporalmente. Y, aunque tú no veas camino ni medio para eso, pero realmente ello ha de ser así, pues Dios lo dice. Si no, dime: ¿Por qué causa crees que Dios es trino y uno? Dirás que porque Dios lo dice, porque eso solo basta para creerlo. Pues, el mismo Dios que dice esto, dice también que el que da al pobre nunca se verá en necesidad. Por donde, si tú crees lo uno, aunque sea sobre toda razón, también has de creer lo otro, aunque así lo sea.
Pues, si eso crees con tanta firmeza, ¿cómo eres escaso en repartir tu hacienda, pues la fe te dice que, repartida, la multiplica? Si, porque sabes que el trigo que siembras se ha de multiplicar, lo derramas confiadamente en la tierra, aunque muchas veces te falta esta esperanza; si crees con mayor firmeza que la limosna que das es simiente que siembras, y que en el cielo y en la tierra se multiplica, ¿cómo eres tan escaso en esta sementera, siendo tan liberal en la otra? Si dices que no ves cómo derramando tu hacienda se pueda multiplicar, tampoco ves cómo sea Dios trino y uno. Si crees esto, porque lo dice Dios, también has de creer esotro, pues lo dice el mismo Dios; y la autoridad que tiene lo uno, tiene lo otro; sino que lo uno cuesta dineros, y lo otro no. Así que, por esta razón, o has de negar la fe, o has de confesar que es verdad lo que la Escritura dice: que el que da al pobre no se verá en necesidad.
Pues, si Dios y la fe aseguran esto, ya que todos los otros intereses espirituales no te mueven, ¿cómo no te mueve siquiera este temporal? Mira que por ninguna parte te puedes excusar, porque, si lo has por bienes espirituales, aquí te los damos a manos llenas, y si por bienes temporales, aquí también los da el Señor por su medida. Ca esta virtud para todo sirve para los bienes desta vida y de la otra. Pues ¿qué puedes alegar, para que no puedas usar de misericordia?
XI. Conclusión de todo lo dicho
Tornemos ahora, pues, al principio y hagamos aquella comparación que propusimos: pongamos en una balanza esta pérdida de hacienda que se sigue de dar limosna, y en la otra pongamos todos estos bienes que la palabra de Dios promete a los que dan, para ver si es razón trocar lo uno por lo otro. Pongamos, pues, la primera excelencia que por aquí se alcanza, que es ser semejantes a Dios en lo más glorioso que hay en Dios para con los hombres, que es la misericordia; y pongamos también el ser familiarmente amados dél como personas más semejantes a él, que es la segunda; y añadamos a esto el tener tan aparejada y merecida la misericordia de Dios todos aquellos que usaron de misericordia con los hombres; y con esto juntemos todos los otros bienes que tras estos se siguen, que son: perdón de los pecados, acrecentamiento de merecimientos, tesoro para la otra vida, socorro en las tribulaciones, eficacia en las oraciones, defensión para el día del juicio, salud y vida perdurable, y, con todo esto, ajuntemos la provisión de bienes temporales que Dios promete al que partiere lo que tiene con los pobres. Todas estas cosas juntas carguemos en esta balanza, y en la otra pongamos un poco de pérdida de hacienda; y, esto hecho, veamos si es justo que hombre que tenga seso y razón deje de gozar de tan grandes bienes como estos, por una tan pequeña pérdida temporal. Ni sé quién habrá, que esto profundamente considere, que no se avergüence de sí mismo, si algún tiempo se vio para con Dios escaso, ofreciéndole este tan rico partido. Por lo cual dije al principio que falta de luz y de consideración era la principal causa de nuestros males. Porque ¿quién habría que, poniendo todas estas cosas ante los ojos, no tuviese por ganancia perder todo cuanto tiene, por gozar de tantos bienes? ¿Qué pérdida podría haber tan grande, que no quedase suficientísimamente recompensada con todos estos provechos? Y, siendo esto así, gran maravilla es ver el día de hoy tan encendida la codicia, y tan resfriada la caridad entre los cristianos.
Y creo cierto que, si los infieles supiesen esto, que se espantarían y pasmarían de cómo la gente que tiene fe de estas verdades no vende todo cuanto tiene por gozar de tales bienes, porque con menos que esto no responde dignamente a la dignidad de tan grandes esperanzas; según que muchos santos lo hicieron.
Mas, si todavía fuere alguno tan ciego y tan obstinado que quiere alegar el menoscabo de su hacienda, y la provisión de sus hijos, para no hacer limosna, oiga lo que contra esto dice el bienaventurado mártir Cipriano, por estas palabras: «Temes, miserable, que desfallecerá tu patrimonio, si fueres largo para Dios, y no miras que, temiendo tú que no desfallezca tu hacienda, desfallece cada día tu vida; y mirando no se disminuyan tus cosas, tú te pierdes y disminuyes, pues eres más amador del dinero, que de ti mismo; y así, temiendo perder el patrimonio, tú te pierdes por salvar el patrimonio. Temes que faltará de comer, si fueres largo y piadoso para el pobre. ¿Cuándo jamás faltó de comer al justo, pues está escrito que no matará Dios de hambre el ánima del justo? A Elías sirven los cuervos de despenseros en el desierto; a Daniel, encerrado en el lago de los leones para ser comido dellos, se le trae de comer por providencia divina; ¿y tú temes que al que trabaja y sirve a Dios le faltará la comida? Mirad —dice él— las aves del aire, que no siembran ni siegan ni guardan, y vuestro Padre celestial les da de comer. Pues, vosotros, ¿no sois de más precio que ellas? Y las aves apacienta Dios, y a los pájaros da de comer, y a los hijos de los cuervos que le llaman. Pues, si no falta el mantenimiento a quien falta el sentido y conocimiento de Dios, ¿cómo piensas tú que faltará al cristiano, al siervo de Dios y al que se ocupa en guardar sus mandamientos y es amado de su Señor?
Si no ¿piensas, por ventura, que no dará de comer Cristo a quien da de comer al mismo Cristo, o que negará los bienes de la tierra a quien concede los bienes del cielo, o que no dará un poco de pan y de carne a quien da su misma sangre y su carne? ¿De dónde nace en ti esta desconfianza y este sacrílego y malvado pensamiento? ¿Qué hace en la casa de la fe el pecho desleal? ¿Cómo se precia del nombre de cristiano el que no se fía de Cristo? ¿Para qué te quieres excusar con esas vanas sombras de excusas? Confiesa la verdadera causa de esa dureza y descubre el secreto de tu corazón. La causa es que las tinieblas de la esterilidad han ocupado tu ánimo, y, huyendo de ahí la lumbre de la verdad, cegó tu pecho carnal la escuridad profunda de la avaricia. Eres cautivo y esclavo de tu dinero, y estás preso con las cadenas de tu codicia, y, habiéndote una vez libertado Cristo, tú mismo te vuelves a cautivar.
Guardas el dinero, que guardado no te guarda, y acrecientas el patrimonio, que con su peso te derriba.
»Pon los ojos en aquella viuda del Evangelio que, cercada de las angustias de su pobreza, ofreció en el arca del Templo solas dos blancas que poseía. Hayan vergüenza los ricos de su esterilidad, pues la viuda y la pobre les lleva la delantera en obras de misericordia. Y, como sea verdad que las limosnas se den comúnmente a huérfanos y viudas, hace limosna la que hubiera de recibirla; para que por aquí entendamos qué pena está aparejada para el rico inhumano, cuando aun por este ejemplo es amonestado el pobre a que sea misericordioso. Y, si dices que la muchedumbre de los hijos te hace menos liberal para con los prójimos, a esto te respondo que por el mismo caso hubieras de ser mucho más, porque, mientras hijos tienes, mayor necesidad tienes de Dios. Porque, habiendo más hijos, tienes más para quien pedirle mercedes, y más son los delitos que has de redimir, más las conciencias que has de curar, y más las ánimas que has de remediar. Porque así como en la vida secular, para mayor número de hijos es menester mayor patrimonio, así en lo espiritual, cuanto creciere el número de los hijos, tanto ha de crecer el número de los servicios; como vemos que lo hacía el santo Job. Y, si tratas de buscar padre para tus hijos, no trates del que es temporal, sino de aquel que es espiritual y eterno. A este tal ofrece tu hacienda, porque este la guardará fielmente a tus herederos.
Ese sea el tutor de tus hijos, ese el curador dellos, ese sea, contra todas las injurias del mundo, su protector. El patrimonio que se pone en manos de Dios, ni la república lo toma, ni el fisco lo ocupa, ni la calumnia de las audiencias seculares lo roba. En lugar seguro está la heredad que tiene a Dios por guardador. Esto es proveer a los hijos para adelante, esto es proveer de remedio a los herederos con piedad paternal».
Casi todas estas palabras son de Cipriano; por las cuales verás cuán fría es la excusa de los que, por el cuidado demasiado de sus hijos, dejan de socorrer a los pobres. De estos mismos se queja san Agustín por otras palabras semejantes, diciendo: «Cristo, en el pobre, te pide, y no le das, diciendo que lo guardas para los hijos. Yo te pongo delante a Cristo, ¿y tú me contrapones a tus hijos? Grande injusticia es que guardes para que desperdicie tu hijo, padeciendo hambre tu mismo Dios, pues él dice: Lo que hicistes a uno destos pequeños, a mí lo hicistes. Y, sabiendo tú esto, ¿no temes ser escaso, viendo quién es este que padece necesidad? Cuéntasme el número de tus hijos: mira que entre estos has de añadir otro, y este será tu Señor. Tienes un hijo: este sea el segundo. Tienes dos: sea el tercero.
Tienes tres: haz que siquiera sea el cuarto». Hasta aquí son palabras de san Agustín. ¿Pues qué podrá responder aquí la codicia humana contra toda esta fuerza de razones? Pues, aún sobre todo esto, hay más que decir.
Porque, sobre todo lo dicho, hay otra cosa que nos había de mover a misericordia; porque verdaderamente, aunque esta virtud ni fuera tan necesaria para nuestra salvación, ni trajera consigo tantos y tan grandes provechos espirituales y temporales, como aquí habemos declarado, sola la obligación que tenemos a nuestro Señor por las grandes misericordias que dél habemos recibido bastaba para hacernos amadores de misericordia; aunque más no hubiera. Y desta razón principalmente se aprovecha san Pablo para persuadir a los de Corinto esta virtud, diciendo: Ya sabéis, hermanos, cuál haya sido la gracia y misericordia de Cristo para con nosotros, pues que, siendo rico, se hizo pobre, para enriquecernos con su pobreza. Pues, si Dios llegó a hacerse pobre por amor de los hombres, ¿qué mucho es hacerse los hombres pobres por amor de Dios? Y si Dios se dejó vender por amor de los hombres, ¿qué mucho es vender los hombres un pedazo de hacienda por amor de Dios? ¿Quién negará un pedazo de pan a quien se dejó vender por él? ¿Quién no dará una poca de hacienda a quien dio por él su sangre? ¿Quién no padecerá un poco de necesidad y pobreza por quien sacrificó por él su vida? Porque, como dice san Bernardo, «si mil veces hiciese el hombre sacrificio de sí mismo por este Señor, no podría pagar este beneficio».
Porque ¿qué proporción hay entre vida de hombre y vida de Dios, y persona de hombre y persona de Dios? Pues ¿cómo será escaso de un pedazo de pan, quien de tantas vidas es deudor? ¿Cómo no se afrentan los que reconocen a este Señor por Criador, y Redentor, y Glorificador, viendo cuán poco hacen por Señor a quien tanto deben? Esta es una consideración con que el bienaventurado Cipriano pretende confundir y avergonzar a todos los cristianos, visto lo poco que hacen por su Señor, haciendo tanto los hijos deste siglo por el suyo. Y así dice él: «Imagine ahora cada uno de nosotros que sale el demonio con todos sus servidores (que es con el pueblo de la perdición) a denostar y avergonzar al pueblo de Dios en presencia del mismo Dios, diciendo: “Mira, Cristo: yo, por todos estos que aquí ves conmigo, ni recibí bofetadas, ni sufrí azotes, ni padecí en cruz, ni derramé sangre por ellos, ni tampoco les prometo el Reino del Cielo ni la gloria del paraíso; y, con todo esto, mira cuán grandes y preciosos dones me ofrecen, y cuán liberalmente gastan en mi servicio lo que en largos tiempos con mucho trabajo ganaron, hasta empeñar y vender su patrimonio para emplearlo en pompas del mundo. Muéstrame, pues, ahora tú, Cristo, otros criados tuyos que así te sirvan y gasten su hacienda por ti. Mira si estos ricos y llenos de bienes hacen otro tanto por ti, siendo tú el que los estás mirando y gobernando en tu misma Iglesia. Mira si llegan a empeñar o a vender sus haciendas para gastarlas por ti, o por mejor decir, para traspasarlas a los tesoros del cielo y mudarlas en mejor posesión.
Y mira, más, que, con estos dones que los míos me ofrecen, ninguno se mantiene, ninguno se viste, ninguno se sustenta, porque todo esto se desperdicia en diversas comidas y trajes, y así todo ello brevemente pasa entre el furor del que come y el error del que mira; mas con los gastos de los tuyos, tú en tus pobres eres vestido y apacentado, y tú prometes la vida eterna a quien esto hiciere. Y, con todo esto, apenas los tuyos, que han de recibir tan grandes galardones, se pueden igualar con los míos, que han de padecer tan grandes tormentos”. ¿Qué responderemos a esto, hermanos muy amados? ¿Con qué color defenderemos las conciencias de los ricos, llenas desta sacrílega esterilidad, y cubiertas con una noche escura de tan grandes tinieblas? ¿Qué excusa tendremos, viendo que somos menos que los siervos del demonio, y que ni aun con un pedazo de pan queremos pagar a Cristo el precio de su sangre?» Hasta aquí son palabras de Cipriano. Las cuales deberían bastar para que se confundiesen los hombres, y se hiciesen más largos para con sus prójimos; sólo por lo que deben a Dios.
Esta consideración movió a los santos a hacer tan grandes extremos, por corresponder a esta obligación, según nos consta por sus historias. Así leemos de santa Isabel, hija del rey de Hungría, que, después que se vio viuda, gastó cuanto le había quedado con hospitales y pobres; por lo cual llegó a tan gran pobreza, que vino a mantenerse del trabajo de sus propias manos. De santa Paula escribe san Jerónimo que, siendo avisada por el mismo santo que no fuese tan demasiada en hacer limosnas, ella respondió que ninguna cosa más deseaba que andar pidiendo de puerta en puerta por Dios, y acabar la vida con tanta pobreza, que no dejase un solo maravedí a su hija, y que, después de muerta, la envolviesen en una sábana ajena. Y de san Exuperio, obispo de Tolosa, escribe el mismo santo doctor que, muriendo él de hambre, daba de comer a los hambrientos, y quitándose el pan de la boca, andaba amarillo con el hambre ajena; y que, fundiendo para esto los vasos sagrados, traía el cuerpo del Señor en una canastica de mimbres, y la sangre en un vaso de vidrio. Y esta misericordia se escribe de san Agustín y de san Ambrosio, los cuales mandaban fundir los cálices y vasos sagrados, para acudir a necesidades de pobres. Pues ¿qué diré de las misericordias de otros santos, que, cuando no tenían qué dar, se despojaban de sus vestiduras y las daban a los pobres, diciendo que más querían hallarse sin vestiduras, que sin misericordia? ¿Qué diré de nuestro glorioso padre santo Domingo, que, después de haber vendido todos sus libros y todo lo demás que tenía para dar a pobres, ofreciéndose una viuda que le pedía ayuda para rescate de un hijo, como el santo no tuviese ya qué dar, ofreció a sí mismo para ser vendido? Y lo que este santo deseó hacer, hizo el santo obispo Paulino, como lo refiere san Gregorio en sus Diálogos; porque, como el santo obispo hubiese gastado todo cuanto tenía en redención de cautivos, cuando ya no tenía qué dar, dejose vender a un bárbaro, y vendido, vino a ser su hortelano, para que así se rescatase el cautivo.
Estos y otros infinitos ejemplos se hallan a cada paso en las Escrituras divinas. Tobías, varón santísimo, fue hombre de gran misericordia, y por ella mereció alcanzar tan grande y tan admirable remedio por ministerio de un ángel. Zaqueo, de linaje de gentiles, era tan misericordioso, que la mitad de su hacienda gastaba con pobres; por lo cual mereció ser llamado hijo de Abrahán, y, lo que más es, recibir en su casa por huésped al Señor del mundo. Y aquella santa mujer Tabita, que en los Actos de los Apóstoles hacía tantos beneficios a pobres y viudas, alcanzó por estas obras, después de muerta, ser resucitada por el Príncipe de los apóstoles. No acabaríamos a este paso de referir ejemplos de santos y santas a este propósito. Mas, a quien estos no bastaren, no sé qué podrá bastar. Por tanto, será bien que dejada esta parte tratemos de la manera que debemos tener en usar de esta virtud. XIII.
De la manera que han de tener los hombres en dar limosna, y a quién señaladamente pertenece darla
Pues para esto es de saber que, según se colige de la doctrina de los santos, el que quiere usar de esta virtud perfectamente ha de guardar las cosas siguientes.
La primera, que sea largo y copioso en hacer bien; esto es, que no sea como algunos que se contentan con dar a los pobres una nonada, que parece que les dan más por redimir su vejación y ahorrar de aquella importunidad, que por socorrer a su necesidad; porque, del que desta manera da, dice san Agustín: «El que da limosna por excusar la importunidad del que le pide, y no por socorrer a su necesidad, pierde lo que da y también el merecimiento desta obra». Esta condición es del apóstol san Pablo, que dice: Hermanos, el que poco siembra, poco cogerá; y el que siembra en abundancia, en abundancia cogerá. Verdad es que esta cantidad más se ha de tasar por el deseo del corazón, que por la cantidad de la obra. Porque, como dice san Ambrosio, «el afecto del que da hace rico o pobre al dador, y pone precio a las cosas». Y san Gregorio: «En los ojos de Dios no está la mano vacía de dones, cuando el arca del corazón está llena de buenos deseos». Porque, como dice san Jerónimo, «nadie fue más pobre que los apóstoles, pero nadie dejó más por Cristo que ellos, por la voluntad grande con que lo dejaron».
La segunda condición parece contraria a la pasada, pero no lo es, pues una virtud no puede ser contraria a otra; y esta es que haya discreción y moderación en dar, porque la liberalidad no venga a mudarse en prodigalidad, si se da a quien no conviene, y más de lo que conviene; porque «esto es —como dice san Jerónimo— perder la liberalidad con la liberalidad». Esta condición también es del Apóstol, el cual dice que no habemos de dar de tal manera, que los otros queden abastados y nosotros necesitados, sino con cierta manera de igualdad y proporción; con la cual, el que recibe sea remediado, y el que da no quede pobre. Esta condición se pone porque no han faltado algunos que fueron tan demasiadamente largos en dar sus cosas, que después, faltándoles lo necesario, tomaron las ajenas. Por donde generalmente vemos por experiencia que toda prodigalidad vino a parar en avaricia, y que nunca hombre fue pródigo de lo suyo, que no fuese después robador de lo ajeno.
La tercera es dar con alegría y prontitud de voluntad; como se escribe que ofreció David y los príncipes del reino todo lo que ofrecieron para la fábrica del templo, por lo cual el santo rey dio gracias a Dios, y le suplicó quisiese siempre conservar aquella prontitud de voluntad en ellos para las cosas de su servicio. Esta condición también es del mismo Apóstol, el cual nos manda que demos limosna, no con tristeza ni por fuerza, porque Dios —dice él— ama al dador alegre. Y él mismo nos aconseja que ejercitemos el ejercicio de la hospitalidad sin desabrimiento ni murmuración. Y esta condición hace tanto al caso para agradar a Dios y para el mérito de la limosna, que más se estima el valor della por la prontitud y alegría de la voluntad, que por la cantidad de la dádiva, como dijimos.
La cuarta condición, que en algo también parece contraria a esta, no lo siendo, es dar con pasión del corazón. Esta condición guardó perfectísimamente nuestro Salvador en todas las obras de misericordia que hacía, pues en todas ellas comúnmente escriben los evangelistas que, movido de compasión y misericordia, hacía lo que hacía. Y la más alta obra de misericordia de cuantas hizo, que fue la redención del género humano, esto, dice Zacarías en su cántico que procedió de las entrañas de la misericordia de nuestro Dios, por las cuales tuvo por bien visitarnos dende lo alto. Y esta misma condición guardaba en sus obras el santo Job, el cual, después de haber contado muy por extenso todas las maneras de piedades que hacía, al cabo añadió, diciendo: Lloraba yo en un tiempo con el que estaba afligido, y compadecíase mi ánima del pobre.
La quinta condición es que la limosna se haga secreta. Lo cual se entiende de dos maneras: la primera, que no se haga principalmente por el mundo, sino por Dios; la segunda, que se haga secretamente, en especial a los pobres vergonzantes; y aun también a los otros pobres se haga muchas veces secretamente, por quitar la ocasión de vanagloria; aunque bien es que algunas veces se haga manifiestamente, y vea el mundo que hace lo que debe como cristiano. La cual condición nos encomienda muchas veces el Maestro del cielo en su Evangelio, tan encarecidamente, que no quiere que sepa la mano siniestra lo que hiciere la diestra; para que así sea nuestra limosna en escondido, y nuestro Padre que la ve en escondido nos la galardone en público. Y, de los que lo contrario hacen, dice que ya en este mundo recibieron su galardón.
La sexta condición es que, el que ha de dar limosna, la dé luego, sin dilación, porque desta manera será tanto mayor su dádiva, cuanto fuere más presta; pues dice el común proverbio que «dos veces da el que presto da». Esta condición es del Sabio, que dice: No digas a tu amigo: «Vete ahora, y vuelve después», si luego le puedes dar. Porque argumento es que da de mala gana el que da tarde; y no se puede decir que da, si da después de muy importunado; pues es común sentencia que «ninguna cosa hay más cara, que la que se compra con ruegos». Ejemplo tenemos desto en el patriarca Abrahán, que así como fue muy presto en la obediencia del sacrificio de su propio hijo (pues luego de noche se levantó para ir a sacrificarlo), así también lo fue en las obras de misericordia; pues, cuando vio aquellos tres varones que pasaban por su casa, corrió luego al hato de las vacas a traer un becerro para ellos, y así todos los de su casa a gran priesa aparejaron el convite para los huéspedes. Pues, siendo esta condición tan importante, ¿en qué lugar pondremos a aquellos que dejan las limosnas para después de sus días? Así lo pretendía hacer la madre de santa Lucía, a quien la santa virgen cortésmente reprehendió, diciendo: «No es mucho dar a Dios lo que no puedes llevar contigo; y, por tanto, en vida reparte lo que tienes con Cristo». A estos mismos reprehende san Basilio por estas palabras: «Dícesme: “Quiero gozar de mis bienes en mi vida, y después de la muerte haré en mi testamento herederos a los pobres”. ¡Oh miserable de ti!
, ¿y entonces quieres ser benigno y liberal para con los hombres, cuando estés hecho un saco de tierra? Mira que “nadie negocia bien después de acabadas las ferias”, y que nadie te puede asegurar el género de muerte que has de morir, para que puedas o no puedas testar».
La séptima condición es que, aunque sea razón examinar las personas a quien das, porque no quites de los verdaderos pobres lo que das a los falsos, mas todavía no querría que fueses muy curioso examinador de las necesidades ajenas, como hacen algunos, que, por encubrir su avaricia, adelgazan y sutilizan demasiadamente estas materias. Esta condición es de Gregorio Teólogo, que dice así: «No examines con mucho cuidado quién sea digno o indigno de la limosna que haces, porque mejor es algunas veces dar a los indignos, por amor de los dignos, que ponerte a peligro de defraudar a los dignos, por amor de los indignos».
La octava condición es que la limosna no sea de lo ajeno, como lo hacen muchos, porque esta no se puede llamar limosna, sino sacrilegio. Porque de la tal está escrito: El que ofrece sacrificio de la hacienda del pobre es como el que degüella al hijo en presencia de su padre. Y es Dios tan enemigo desta limosna, que uno de los títulos de que él se precia en la Escritura es este: Yo soy Dios, que amo el juicio y aborrezco el hurto, aunque sea para sacrificármelo.
La nona condición sea —para hacer este negocio con más suavidad— que, cuando se nos ofreciere ocasión para usar de misericordia, consideremos estas tres cosas, conviene saber: quién pide, y qué pide, y para quién pide. El que pide no es el pobre, sino Dios en el pobre, como dice san Jerónimo: «Cada vez que extendieres las manos al pobre, piensa que se las extiendes a Cristo». Lo que pide no es tu hacienda, sino suya; porque, si Cristo es heredero y señor de todas las cosas, también lo es de tu hacienda, de tu persona y de tu vida, pues ella, con todo lo demás, está en su mano. Mas, si consideras para quién pide, digo que pide para ti, más que para sí; porque para sí pide bienes de la tierra, y a ti te da bienes de cielo, como dijo el Señor a aquel mancebo: Si quieres ser perfecto, ve y vende todas las cosas que tienes, y dalas a los pobres, y ternás un tesoro en el cielo.
Estas son las principales condiciones que ha de guardar el varón misericordioso para que su misericordia sea merecedora de todas las riquezas y bienes que aquí habemos dicho. Y la oración, acompañada con esta misericordia, esta es la que vuela con mayor ligereza al cielo y la que merece alcanzar misericordia ante el acatamiento divino.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.19.21;Mark.10.21;Acts.2.45 — Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Mark.10.21 — And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me." Acts.2.45 — and they were selling their possessions and property and distributing the proceeds to all, as anyone had need.
- ↩Exod.34.6-Exod.34.7 — And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.' Exod.34.7 — keeping steadfast love for thousands, bearing iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, to the third and to the fourth generation.
- ↩Col.3.12 — Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
- ↩Luke.6.36;Matt.5.7;Eph.5.1 — Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Matt.5.7 — Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Eph.5.1 — Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
- ↩Prov.19.17;Prov.22.7 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed. Prov.22.7 — The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.
- ↩Prov.19.17 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed.
- ↩Luke.11.41 — But give what is inside as charity, and behold, everything is clean for you.
- ↩Dan.4.24 — Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor — perhaps there will be a lengthening of your prosperity.
- ↩Matt.6.19-Matt.6.20;Luke.12.33;Luke.16.9 — Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matt.6.20 — But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. Luke.12.33 — Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief draws near and no moth destroys. Luke.16.9 — And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it runs out, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
- ↩Matt.6.19-Matt.6.20;2Cor.4.18 — Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matt.6.20 — But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. 2Cor.4.18 — So we do not focus on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
- ↩Prov.19.17 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed.
- ↩Ps.78.25 — Man ate the bread of the mighty; provisions he sent them to the full.
- ↩Matt.10.42;Mark.9.41 — And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. Mark.9.41 — For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, truly I tell you, will not lose their reward.
- ↩John.4.10-John.4.14;John.7.38 — Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." John.4.11 — The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?" John.4.12 — Surely you are not greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his livestock? John.4.13 — Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again." John.4.14 — but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst forever; rather, the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life John.7.38 — The one who believes in me, just as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him.
- ↩John.10.28;Luke.10.42 — I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — not forever — and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Luke.10.42 — Few things are needed, or only one. For Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
- ↩Matt.6.19-Matt.6.21 — Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matt.6.20 — But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. Matt.6.21 — For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- ↩Matt.6.19-Matt.6.21 — Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matt.6.20 — But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. Matt.6.21 — For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- ↩Matt.6.21;John.14.2 — For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. John.14.2 — In my Father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you? I go to prepare a place for you.
- ↩Gen.26.12;Matt.19.29;Mark.10.30 — And Isaac sowed in that land and found in that year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. Matt.19.29 — And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. Mark.10.30 — whoever does not receive a hundredfold now in this time — houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, along with persecutions — and in the coming age, eternal life.
- ↩Matt.25.40;2Cor.8.9 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' 2Cor.8.9 — For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
- ↩Ps.41.1;Ps.41.2 — For the director of music. A Psalm of David. Ps.41.2 — Blessed is the one who has regard for the poor; in the day of trouble, the LORD delivers him.
- ↩Ps.41.2;Ps.41.3 — Blessed is the one who has regard for the poor; in the day of trouble, the LORD delivers him. Ps.41.3 — The LORD will keep him alive and preserve him; he will be called blessed in the land. Do not give him over to the will of his enemies.
- ↩Ps.41.3;Ps.41.4 — The LORD will keep him alive and preserve him; he will be called blessed in the land. Do not give him over to the will of his enemies. Ps.41.4 — The LORD sustains him on his bed of illness; you turn all his lying down in his sickness.
- ↩Isa.58.7 — Is it not to break your bread to the hungry and bring the poor who are cast out into your house? When you see the naked, cover him, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh.
- ↩Isa.58.9 — Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you remove from your midst the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
- ↩Prov.21.13 — Whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also cry out and not be answered.
- ↩1Pet.1.18-1Pet.1.19;Acts.20.28 — knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things—silver or gold—from your futile way of life handed down from your fathers, 1Pet.1.19 — but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Acts.20.28 — Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he obtained through the blood of his own.
- ↩Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
- ↩Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
- ↩Prov.19.17;Matt.25.40 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed. Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
- ↩1Cor.4.13 — when slandered, we speak gently; we have become like the world's refuse, the scum of everything, even to this moment.
- ↩1Tim.4.8 — For bodily training has some benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.
- ↩Rom.2.4 — Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
- ↩Acts.1.9-Acts.1.12;Luke.24.50-Luke.24.51 — And after he said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Acts.1.10 — And as they were looking intently into the sky as he was going, behold, two men stood beside them in white garments. Acts.1.11 — Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven. Acts.1.12 — Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. Luke.24.50 — Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. Luke.24.51 — And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven.
- ↩1Kgs.6.31-1Kgs.6.33 — And the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made of olive-wood doors — the doorposts in a set of five. 1Kgs.6.32 — And two doors of olivewood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid with gold, and he spread the gold over the cherubim and over the palm trees. 1Kgs.6.33 — And so he made for the entrance of the temple doorposts of olivewood, from a fourth part.
- ↩Jas.2.13 — For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgment.
- ↩Jas.2.13 — For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgment.
- ↩Matt.5.7;Jas.2.13 — Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Jas.2.13 — For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgment.
- ↩Matt.25.35 — For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in;
- ↩Gal.6.7-Gal.6.8 — Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Gal.6.8 — For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
- ↩Gal.6.7-Gal.6.8;Hos.10.12-Hos.10.13 — Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Gal.6.8 — For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Hos.10.12 — Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap according to steadfast love; break up your fallow ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness upon you. Hos.10.13 — You have plowed wickedness, reaped injustice, and eaten the fruit of deceit — because you trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your warriors.
- ↩Gal.6.7-Gal.6.8 — Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Gal.6.8 — For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
- ↩Jas.2.13 — For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgment.
- ↩2Cor.8.9 — For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
- ↩Matt.25.41-Matt.25.45 — Then he will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' Matt.25.42 — For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, Matt.25.43 — I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Matt.25.44 — Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not serve you?' Matt.25.45 — Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly I tell you, as much as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.'
- ↩Job.1.21;1Tim.6.7 — And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.' 1Tim.6.7 — For we brought nothing into the world, because we can carry nothing out of it.
- ↩Jas.1.12 — Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
- ↩Matt.25.35-Matt.25.36 — For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in; Matt.25.36 — I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.
- ↩Matt.25.18;Matt.6.19 — But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug in the ground and hid his master's silver. Matt.6.19 — Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- ↩Prov.13.8 — A man's wealth is the ransom of his life, but the poor hear no rebuke.
- ↩Matt.16.25;Luke.9.24 — For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Luke.9.24 — For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
- ↩Prov.28.27 — Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but whoever hides their eyes will have many curses.
- ↩Prov.28.27 — Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but whoever hides their eyes will have many curses.
- ↩Luke.6.38;Prov.19.17 — Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, they will put into your lap. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you. Prov.19.17 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed.
- ↩Luke.6.36;Matt.5.7 — Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Matt.5.7 — Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
- ↩Matt.6.19-Matt.6.20 — Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matt.6.20 — But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.
- ↩Matt.25.31-Matt.25.46;Jas.2.13 — When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Matt.25.32 — And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matt.25.33 — And he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at his left. Matt.25.34 — Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' Matt.25.35 — For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in; Matt.25.36 — I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. Matt.25.37 — Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?' Matt.25.38 — And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? Matt.25.39 — Or when did we see you sick or in prison, and did not come to you? Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Matt.25.41 — Then he will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' Matt.25.42 — For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, Matt.25.43 — I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Matt.25.44 — Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not serve you?' Matt.25.45 — Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly I tell you, as much as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.' Matt.25.46 — And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Jas.2.13 — For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgment.
- ↩Prov.19.17;Luke.6.38;2Cor.9.6-2Cor.9.11 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed. Luke.6.38 — Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, they will put into your lap. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you. 2Cor.9.6 — But remember this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2Cor.9.7 — Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2Cor.9.8 — And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you may overflow in every good work. 2Cor.9.9 — As it is written, 'He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever.' 2Cor.9.10 — Now the one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 2Cor.9.11 — You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous in every way, which through us produces thanksgiving to God.
- ↩Matt.16.25-Matt.16.26;Phil.3.7-Phil.3.8;Matt.19.21 — For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matt.16.26 — For what will it benefit a person if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will a person give in exchange for their life? Phil.3.7 — But whatever was gain to me, these things I have counted as loss on account of Christ. Phil.3.8 — But more than that—indeed, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost everything and consider it all rubbish, so that I may gain Christ. Matt.19.21 — Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
- ↩Luke.6.38;Matt.19.29 — Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, they will put into your lap. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you. Matt.19.29 — And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
- ↩Matt.24.12 — And because lawlessness is multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold.
- ↩Prov.10.3 — The LORD will not let the righteous soul go hungry, but the craving of the wicked he will thrust away.
- ↩Gal.5.1;John.8.36;2Pet.2.19 — For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not again be subject to a yoke of slavery. John.8.36 — So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 2Pet.2.19 — They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a person is overcome, by that he is enslaved.
- ↩Jas.1.27 — Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
- ↩Job.1.5 — When the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.
- ↩Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
- ↩2Cor.8.9 — For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
- ↩2Cor.8.9 — For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
- ↩Matt.25.35-Matt.25.40 — For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in; Matt.25.36 — I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. Matt.25.37 — Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?' Matt.25.38 — And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? Matt.25.39 — Or when did we see you sick or in prison, and did not come to you? Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
- ↩John.3.19;Eph.5.8 — And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and the people loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. Eph.5.8 — For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.
- ↩1Pet.1.18-1Pet.1.19;Acts.20.28 — knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things—silver or gold—from your futile way of life handed down from your fathers, 1Pet.1.19 — but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Acts.20.28 — Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he obtained through the blood of his own.
- ↩2Cor.9.6 — But remember this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
- ↩2Cor.8.13-2Cor.8.14 — For I do not mean that relief should come to others while you are burdened, but that by equality, your abundance at the present time might supply their lack. 2Cor.8.14 — so that their abundance may supply your lack, and their abundance may become a supply for your need, that equality may result.
- ↩2Cor.9.7 — Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
- ↩1Pet.4.9;Rom.12.13 — Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Rom.12.13 — Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality.
- ↩Job.30.25 — Surely I did not weep for the one whose day was hard, nor did my soul grieve for the poor.
- ↩Matt.6.3-Matt.6.4 — But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, Matt.6.4 — so that your giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
- ↩Matt.6.2 — So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by people. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
- ↩Isa.61.8 — For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery with burnt offering; and I will give their wages in truth, and I will cut an everlasting covenant with them.
- ↩Matt.25.40 — And the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
- ↩Heb.1.2 — God appointed him heir of all things, and through him also made the ages.
- ↩Matt.19.21;Mark.10.21;Luke.18.22 — Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Mark.10.21 — And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me." Luke.18.22 — When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Notes
- 1 ↩The older Spanish formula Pluguiese a Dios expresses a devout wish—literally, “May it please God”—rather than a direct statement about grace.
- 2 ↩The source contrasts seso y corazón, literally “sense and heart,” with spiritual insensibility. Here “heart” carries the older sense of understanding rather than emotion alone.
- 3 ↩Spanish “con peligro mío” indicates that the giver may endanger his own material security or ability to meet his needs.
- 4 ↩gentiles: rendered as "pagans" for classical non-Christian moralists; "Gentiles" would also be faithful in a biblical-register reading.
- 5 ↩The quoted prayer is the traditional Collect formula Deus, cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere ("O God, to whom it is proper always to have mercy and to spare/forgive").
- 6 ↩Sentence breaks mid-citation; the reference continues in the next sentence as II-II q. 30 (Aquinas on mercy).
- 7 ↩Continues the Thomas citation begun in s5: Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 30 (on mercy).
- 8 ↩"sufridor" rendered as "long-suffering" (patient/forbearing), matching the Exodus theophany cadence rather than a bare "suffering one."
- 9 ↩«Gregorio Teólogo» is Gregory Nazianzen (Gregory the Theologian). «Estar colgado de las manos» is rendered idiomatically as depending on / hanging on others' hands, keeping the concrete image.
- 10 ↩Spanish privanza means the privileged standing or intimate favor a court favorite has with a sovereign; rendered here as 'special favor' to keep the courtly sense without archaism.
- 11 ↩Early modern court term for intimate favor as a prince’s favorite; rendered as “special favor” to keep the political metaphor without archaic diction.
- 12 ↩Printed sentence ends mid-clause; the complement “Dios…” opens the next section (OracMed.1.47.14.s1).
- 13 ↩Spanish gracia here names a gift/privilege of the virtue of mercy, not merely the technical theological habit of grace; rendered as favor to keep that sense clear while preserving the gift-language of the passage.
- 14 ↩cédulas y firmas is a legal metaphor: written certificates/bonds with seals or signatures. Rendered as written bonds and signatures to keep the documentary force without archaism.
- 15 ↩embriaga y harta keeps the biblical abundance metaphor (fill to the full / make drunk with plenty). Intoxicates is retained as the closest faithful rendering of embriaga in the proverb tradition, not as modern casual drunkenness.
- 16 ↩The parenthetical 'si decir se puede' marks the boldness of calling God a captive; the image is rhetorical, drawn from the joined Proverbs, not a claim that God loses freedom.
- 17 ↩'las entrañas de Dios' is the biblical idiom for God's deep compassion (bowels/heart of mercy); rendered as 'the depths of God's heart' rather than a wooden 'entrails.'
- 18 ↩'estas' refers back to 'las llaves de las entrañas de Dios' in s3; made explicit as 'these keys' for clarity. 'Gregorio Teólogo' is Gregory Nazianzen (Gregory the Theologian). The quotation continues through s7.
- 19 ↩'da por alcanzada la misericordia de Dios' means treat God's mercy as already obtained/secured; rendered as 'count God's mercy as already yours.'
- 20 ↩cédulas y firmas: legal bonds/certificates and signatures guaranteeing a claim; kept as a concrete documentary image rather than flattened to 'proofs'.
- 21 ↩Spanish 'de todo lo que os sobra' follows a surplus/remainder sense of Luke 11:41; rendered from the Spanish surface, not from a competing Vulgate reading of 'quod superest'.
- 22 ↩Final clause 'cuando esta falta, peligro corre el que esta pide': both demonstratives are feminine and most naturally point back to this means of forgiveness (almsgiving/mercy); rendered as when this is lacking, the one who asks for it (forgiveness) is in danger.
- 23 ↩«Ni es tanta parte X cuanto Y» rendered as comparative force: the physician does not contribute as much as the poor man's outstretched hands.
- 24 ↩«los sacerdotes habían de comer los pecados del pueblo» is Granada's traditional reading of the biblical image: the people obtained pardon through the merit of alms given to the priests, so the sins are said to be 'eaten' with the offering.
- 25 ↩Source has 'mereciientos'; treated as the obvious typo for 'merecimientos' (merits), confirmed by neighboring section OracMed.1.47.22.
- 26 ↩Spanish 'satisfactoria' is rendered in the technical sense of making satisfaction for sin (not 'adequate' or 'pleasing'); 'penosa' as costly/hard rather than merely sorrowful.
- 27 ↩Spanish hacha here is torch/taper (alumbrar), not axe; context of lighting a dark region requires torch.
- 28 ↩te recogerá follows the Spanish surface ('will gather you in / take you up'); the Hebrew/English rear-guard sense of Is 58:8 is not forced onto the Spanish wording.
- 29 ↩títulos kept as 'titles' in the older claim/right sense (grounds of claim), not modern job titles.
- 30 ↩«no hace bien el que hace bien, sino antes lo recibe» is a deliberate paradox: the almsgiver appears to be the benefactor, but in spiritual economy is the greater beneficiary.
- 31 ↩Opening quotation mark begins a multi-sentence Gregory citation that continues through s5; the source leaves the quote open across sentence boundaries.
- 32 ↩«carne» here means bodily comfort and worldly provision spent on oneself, contrasted with spiritual investment; «fuego que lo ha de gastar» is the fire that will waste or consume worldly goods (decay, judgment, or loss), not necessarily hellfire alone.
- 33 ↩«dinero de la maldad» (mammon of iniquity) is retained as a scriptural phrase; the Spanish gloss explains it as wealth people commonly misuse, not as money that is inherently sinful in every use.
- 34 ↩Spanish «recibiendo» marks the poor man’s act of receiving alms as itself a gift to the giver (the chance to store treasure in heaven).
- 35 ↩Spanish «gracia de ser oído» is rendered as “favor of being heard,” i.e. the practical advantage of securing a hearing with God, not a full technical sense of sanctifying grace.
- 36 ↩«Cobrar... por un precio tan vil» continues the exchange metaphor: heaven (the precious thing) is obtained by giving lowly earthly goods as alms.
- 37 ↩«darnos han» is older Spanish for «nos darán» (they/it will give us); rendered as passive «we will be given» to keep the promise force without inventing an agent.
- 38 ↩«desta hacienda» = de esta hacienda; «banqueros» is a commercial metaphor for the poor as receivers who transfer alms into heavenly credit, kept as bankers for fidelity to the image.
- 39 ↩«Por do» = por donde, «from which / whereby»; «derramas» = pour out / give away freely; «desordenadamente» rendered as «in a disordered way» to keep the moral force of disordered attachment.
- 40 ↩«trata del remedio del necesitado» rendered as caring for / seeing to the needy person's relief, not merely discussing remedies.
- 41 ↩Mid-sentence shift from third-person petition to second-person address to the Lord follows the psalm wording as given in the Spanish source («rodeaste, Señor»).
- 42 ↩Spanish 'ánima y tus entrañas' rendered as 'soul and your inmost heart' to keep the interior seat of compassion without archaic 'bowels'.
- 43 ↩Spanish huelgo con means take pleasure/delight in; rendered 'delight in' rather than archaic 'holgar'.
- 44 ↩dende ahí is archaic for desde ahí ('from there'); sense is secure.
- 45 ↩The seven works of mercy are offered as recompense (recompensa) against the seven deadly sins—a traditional spiritual pairing, not a claim that alms alone cancel unrepented mortal sin.
- 46 ↩Spanish cabritos is literally kids/young goats; rendered with the familiar biblical sheep/goats pair.
- 47 ↩luego after dístesme de comer is taken as sequential then rather than immediate right away, fitting the list cadence of Matthew 25.
- 48 ↩escaseza here is moral meanness/stinginess (clarified by 'que todo lo quiere para sí'), not material scarcity.
- 49 ↩Rendered 'vino con nosotros en darnos' as 'went so far with us as to give us' (divine condescension/bargain toward us); alternative is a simpler 'came to give us'.
- 50 ↩caridad rendered as charity (with goodness and prudence) in this almsgiving/theological-virtue cluster; love would also be allowed by policy.
- 51 ↩Rendered as 'the dregs of the world' for the strong contempt-and-reversal force of heces; alternatives include 'the refuse/scum of the world'.
- 52 ↩Source has plural «dicen» with singular «san Gregorio»; rendered as a single attribution to Gregory.
- 53 ↩«salud» here means spiritual salvation / eternal well-being, not bodily health.
- 54 ↩Opening quotation continues into the next section (OracMed.1.47.41); the Spanish leaves the quote open at section end.
- 55 ↩"Ella" continues personifying almsgiving (limosna) as a virtue that is known, revered, and able to open heaven's door.
- 56 ↩The claim that almsgiving/mercy "brought God from heaven to earth" is the source's rhetorical theology (mercy associated with the Incarnation), not a separate scriptural citation here.
- 57 ↩"Perdonar un poco de dinero" means to spare/withhold a little money, not to forgive a debt.
- 58 ↩Old Spanish «necesitan a usar» is taken as «compel/necessitate the practice of», not merely «need to use».
- 59 ↩«tomarnos por hambre y ponernos el cuchillo a la garganta» is a force/compulsion image: necessity presses so hard that the virtue can no longer be treated as optional.
- 60 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period ('.'), almost certainly a segmentation artifact after the closing of s1's Augustine quotation.
- 61 ↩Spanish aborrecer is strong loathing/hatred; rendered hate to keep the force of the reciprocal threat. Archaic future aborrecerte ha = te aborrecerá.
- 62 ↩Opening of a multi-sentence Basil quotation split across s6–s8; closing guillemet appears to open in s6 and continues through s8.
- 63 ↩almario is archaic for armario (cupboard/chest/cabinet); rendered as 'chest' for the place where wealth is stored.
- 64 ↩caridad rendered as charity (theological virtue), not mere almsgiving; humanidad as humane compassion toward others.
- 65 ↩"Redemption of souls" renders redención de las ánimas: not a substitute for Christ's redemption, but the traditional almsgiving claim that wealth, rightly given, becomes a means of freeing and saving the soul.
- 66 ↩maravedí: a small Spanish coin; here, the least bit of money.
- 67 ↩ellas is rendered as 'these works' (works of almsgiving/mercy in the treatise). 'la misma necesidad' continues the 'necesidad' of this virtue for the rich in the previous sentence; it may also echo the pressing need of the poor.
- 68 ↩Spanish 'abriere sus entrañas' is the biblical 'bowels of compassion' idiom (1 Jn 3:17); rendered as 'open his heart' for modern readability while keeping the sense of interior mercy.
- 69 ↩prendas: rendered as 'pledges' (the promised goods/guarantees attached to mercy), not as garments or hostages.
- 70 ↩tampoco por esto no nos desavendremos: classical Spanish double negative retained as a single English negative ('even so we will not fall out'); desavenir = part ways / quarrel / fail to come to terms.
- 71 ↩le daremos las manos llenas: idiomatic 'fill his hands' / 'give him hands full' of what he wants (temporal gain), not a handshake.
- 72 ↩respeto: older Spanish sense of regard/esteem shown, not mere 'respect' as deference; rendered 'regard'.
- 73 ↩Spanish «aquel estado» points to the Old Covenant / old-law economy; rendered as «that state of things» rather than the narrower modern sense of political state.
- 74 ↩«toman la ajena» is rendered as taking what belongs to someone else; it may also be heard more broadly as grasping after others' goods.
- 75 ↩Spanish «piedad» is kept as «piety»; in many English Bibles the parallel 1 Timothy wording is «godliness».
- 76 ↩The seven/eight allegory (week vs. eighth day / next life) is the author's mystical reading of the Wise Man's counsel, not a bare literal paraphrase of the proverb alone.
- 77 ↩"su carne y sangre en mantenimiento" is framed as sacramental nourishment (Eucharistic reception), not ordinary food; rendered "his flesh and blood as food" to keep that force without flattening into generic spirituality.
- 78 ↩"no pierdes en la ganancia, antes la multiplicas": "antes" is adversative (rather / on the contrary), not temporal "before." "Temporalmente" here means in this-world goods, opposed to spiritually.
- 79 ↩Spanish "aunque... pero" is the older correlative though/yet construction; rendered as "even if... still" to keep both the concession and the counterweight.
- 80 ↩"aunque así lo sea" resumes the "sobre toda razón" concession: the second claim (alms multiplied) is no more unreasonable than the first (Trinity). Rendered as "even though it is likewise beyond reason."
- 81 ↩esto / esotro: in context, 'this' is the Trinity (believed on God's word alone); 'the other' is the promise that almsgiving multiplies rather than diminishes goods.
- 82 ↩"si lo has por" rendered as motive ("if you're after"); the sense is "if you take/regard the practice for the sake of spiritual goods" versus temporal ones.
- 83 ↩Archaic Spanish "Ca" = for/because (causal connective); modernized as "For".
- 84 ↩Spanish 'salud' here, paired with 'vida perdurable' in a list of spiritual goods, is rendered as 'salvation' (salus), not physical health.
- 85 ↩'ajuntemos' is an older form of 'adjuntemos' ('let us add/join'); sense is clear.
- 86 ↩'este tan rico partido' is commercial idiom: a rich deal/bargain offered by God in exchange for almsgiving.
- 87 ↩'caridad' is rendered 'charity' (not merely 'love') because the almsgiving/mercy treatise and the contrast with 'codicia' (greed) put the theological virtue of charity in view.
- 88 ↩pecho here is the inner self / heart (Golden Age usage), not the physical breast; desleal = faithless/disloyal.
- 89 ↩esterilidad: spiritual barrenness / unfruitfulness in good works, not merely agricultural sterility. escuridad = oscuridad (archaic spelling).
- 90 ↩Spanish blancas names a small, low-value coin; rendered as "small coins" for the Gospel widow's mites (not the color white).
- 91 ↩la viuda y la pobre is treated as one person (the poor widow), not two separate figures; esterilidad means spiritual unfruitfulness in giving, not physical infertility.
- 92 ↩pedirle mercedes takes God as the implied addressee from the prior sentence (necesidad... de Dios); delitos here means sins/offenses, not only civil crimes.
- 93 ↩servicios = acts of service/worship before God (alms, sacrifices, intercession), not household servants; Job alludes to his offerings for his children.
- 94 ↩Golden Age legal terms: 'república' = commonwealth/state; 'fisco' = public treasury; 'audiencias seculares' = secular tribunals; 'calumnia' = calumny/false charge used to strip property.
- 95 ↩Early modern hicistes (2pl) rendered as modern 'you did'; destos = de estos.
- 96 ↩Este points back to the Lord just named in s6: Christ is to be counted as an additional child for whom provision (alms) is due.
- 97 ↩se dejó vender evokes Christ sold (Judas/Passion); keep passive willingness, not mere commercial exchange.
- 98 ↩"deudor de tantas vidas" keeps the debt-for-lives sense from the preceding argument (Christ's life given for ours); not merely "owes so much."
- 99 ↩Spanish color here is rhetorical: pretext, cover, or color of justification, not physical color.
- 100 ↩más largos is early modern Spanish for more generous/liberal in giving, not physically longer.
- 101 ↩maravedí: kept as the historical Spanish coin named in the source rather than flattened to a generic 'penny' or 'coin'.
- 102 ↩cuerpo del Señor / la sangre: rendered as Body of the Lord and Blood to keep Eucharistic specificity; the story turns on melting sacred vessels to relieve the poor while still reserving the Sacrament in humble containers.
- 103 ↩Spanish says 'de linaje de gentiles' (of Gentile stock); rendered faithfully as the source states, though Gospel reception often treats Zacchaeus as Jewish.
- 104 ↩Spanish ‘ejercitemos el ejercicio’ is a doubled construction; rendered as ‘practice hospitality’ to keep the sense without stilted English. ‘Desabrimiento’ is sour ill humor or begrudging irritation, not mere sadness.
- 105 ↩Spanish 'pasión del corazón' is heartfelt depth of feeling that moves almsgiving; the next sentence equates it with being moved by compassion and mercy, not with disordered passion.
- 106 ↩Archaic Spanish 'dende' = 'desde' ('from'); rendered 'from on high'. 'Entrañas de la misericordia' keeps the biblical image of mercy from the inmost depths, not a merely clinical 'bowels'.
- 107 ↩pobres vergonzantes: the historical 'shamefaced poor'—people reduced to need who are ashamed to beg openly; rendered descriptively for modern readability.
- 108 ↩"después de sus días" means after death (posthumous bequests), not merely later in life.
- 109 ↩The quoted rebuke opens here and continues into the next section; the closing guillemet is not present in this sentence unit.
- 110 ↩Spanish «testar» = to make a last will/testament; rendered as “make a will” to keep the legal sense of posthumous bequests clear.
- 111 ↩Gregorio Teólogo is Gregory of Nazianzus (Gregory the Theologian); rendered as a proper-name title, not a common-noun phrase.
- 112 ↩Spanish 'juicio' here is biblical justice/right judgment, not courtroom process; rendered 'justice' to match the Isaiah echo.
- 113 ↩Source ternás is an older future of tener (modern tendrás); rendered as contemporary 'you will have.'
- 114 ↩«acatamiento divino» rendered as "divine presence" (God's reverent regard/presence); could also be "divine majesty" or "God's face".
Book of Prayer and Meditation (Libro de la Oración y Meditación) companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere