Caput XVII. De eleemosynis
The Duty of Mercy
God's gifts are meant to be shared with those in need, and generosity opens the way to eternal reward and divine mercy.
You need to understand that it is an act of piety to use what the heavenly Father has mercifully given us to help others as well. There are many who own no share of land, no vineyards, no portion of this world's wealth. We ought to provide for their needs out of the abundance the Lord has given us, so that they may join us in blessing God for the earth's fruitfulness, and so that those who have possessions may rejoice that what was given to them has also been made common to the poor and to strangers. Happy is that storehouse, and most worthy of multiplying every kind of fruit, from which the hunger of the needy, the weak, and strangers is satisfied. Those whom God's justice has allowed to toil under various hardships, he did so in order to crown the wretched for their patience and the merciful for their kindness. The most effective plea for sins is found in almsgiving and fasting; and prayer raised up on such supports quickly ascends to God's ears, because it is written: "The merciful man does good to his soul" (Prov.✦1 XI, 17). For whatever share of material resources is given to those in need passes over into eternal riches for the one who gives.
Give and It Will Be Given
Believers are urged to give generously and without anxiety, trusting Christ's promise that giving will be repaid.
This is how we earn God's mercy and the forgiveness of our sins — through compassion for the poor and through almsgiving: whoever does not turn their heart away from the needy person quickly turns the Lord's ear toward themselves, as the Lord says, Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (Luke✦ 6:36).✦ Let Humanity spend and give generously, confident that Truth herself promises to repay it. Be steadfast, Christian giver: give what you would receive, sow what you would reap, scatter what you would gather. Do not fear the loss; do not sigh with worry over an uncertain return. Your resources, when they are well spent, grow. Your Rewarder wants you to be generous. And the One who gives so that you may have, commands you to give in turn, saying: Give, and it will be given to you.✦
Treasure in Heaven
Rather than hoarding earthly wealth, the greedy are urged to give it away and store up heavenly treasure through mercy to the poor.
You greedy one, if you love gold or the riches of this world, give it away so you do not lose it. If you hoard it, you will lose it without question; if you give it away, you will have it for all eternity — as Truth itself says: Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.✦ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matt.✦ VI, 21). Certainly, those who manage well what is temporary will gain what is eternal. Do not be afraid to give generously, or you will be left with nothing when repayment comes — because the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly (2 Cor.✦ IX, 6). But whoever shows mercy to the poor will be blessed (Prov.✦
Alms as Atonement
Scripture teaches that almsgiving honors God, atones for sin like water quenching fire, and intercedes for the giver.
Proverbs 21:14. A person's wealth is the ransom for their life (Proverbs 13:8). Proverbs 13:8. Whoever shows mercy to the poor honors God. Holy Scripture says to hide your alms in the lap of the poor, and it will pray for you (Ecclesiasticus 29:15). Ecclesiasticus 29:15. As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving extinguishes sin. Do not look down on a hungry soul, and do not provoke the poor in their outcry (Ecclesiasticus 4:3).
While There Is Time
Whoever ignores the poor loses God's mercy, so one must do good now, welcome the poor to the table, and practice bodily, spiritual, and corrective almsgiving.
IV, 2).✦ Whoever turns their ear away from the cry of the poor person, their own prayer will not deserve God's mercy.✦ In your life, do good for your soul by giving alms to the wretched, because after death you will not have the power to do good. At your feasts, let the poor share the meal, and Christ in them. There are three kinds of alms: the first is bodily, giving whatever you can to the person in need; the second is spiritual, forgiving the one who has wronged you; and the third is correcting the person at fault, and leading the wandering back into the way of truth.
Read the original Latin
Sciendum est enim esse pietatis opus, ut de his quae nobis coelestis Pater misericorditer contulit, nos quoque alios adjuvemus. Sunt enim plurimi qui nullam in agris, nullam in vineis, nullam habent in saeculi divitiis portionem. Quorum inopiae de ea quam Dominus nobis dedit copia consulere debemus, ut et ipsi nobiscum Deo pro terrae fecunditate benedicant, et gaudeant possidentibus fuisse donata, quae etiam pauperibus ac peregrinis facta fuerunt communia. Felix est illud horreum, et omnium fructuum multiplicatione dignissimum, unde egentium, et debilium, et peregrinorum saturatur esuries. Quos ideo sub diversis molestiis justitia Dei laborare permisit, ut et miseros pro patientia, et misericordes pro benevolentia coronaret. Efficacissima enim pro peccatis deprecatio est in eleemosynis atque jejuniis; et velociter ad divinas conscendit aures talibus oratio elevata suffragiis, quoniam scriptum est: Animae suae benefacit vir misericors (Prov. XI, 17). Pars enim corporalium facultatum, quae indigentibus ministratur, in divitias largienti transit aeternas.
Ita misericordiam Dei et indulgentiam peccatorum nostrorum, pauperum miseratione et eleemosynis meremur: quoniam qui suum ab inope non avertit animum, cito ad se Domini convertit auditum, dicente Domino: Estote misericordes, sicut Pater vester misericors est (Luc. VI, 36). Quod reddituram se promittit Veritas, secura expendat et tribuat humanitas. Constans esto, Christiane largitor, da quod accipias, sere quod metas, sparge quod colligas. Noli metuere dispendium, noli de dubio suspirare proventu. Substantia tua cum bene erogatur, augetur. Remunerator tuus vult te esse munificum. Et qui dat ut habeas, mandat ut tribuas, dicens: Date, et dabitur vobis.
O avare, si aurum diligis, vel divitias saeculi, da, ne perdas. Si servaveris, sine dubio perdes: si erogaveris, omnino habebis eas aeternaliter, dicente ipsa Veritate: Thesaurizate vobis thesauros in coelo, ubi nec aerugo, nec tinea demolitur: neque fures effodiunt, et furantur. Ubi enim est thesaurus tuus, ibi est et cor tuum (Matth. VI, 29). Utique bene dispensantes temporalia acquiretis aeterna. Noli timidus esse in largiendo, ne sis egenus in retributione: quia qui parce seminat, parce et metet (II Cor. IX, 6). Qui autem miseretur pauperi, beatus erit (Prov.
XIV, 21). Redemptio itaque animae viri, divitiae ejus (Prov. XIII, 8). Honorat Deum, qui miseretur pauperis. Absconde eleemosynam in sinu pauperis, dicit Scriptura sancta, et ipsa orabit pro te (Eccli. XXIX, 15). Sicut aqua exstinguit ignem, ita eleemosyna exstinguit peccatum. Animam esurientem ne despexeris, et ne exasperes pauperem in clamore suo (Eccli.
IV, 2). Qui avertit aurem suam a clamore pauperis, illius oratio clementiam Dei non merebitur. In vita tua benefac animae tuae, eleemosynas dans miseris, quia post mortem non habes potestatem bene faciendi. In conviviis tuis pauperes vescantur, et Christus in illis. Tria sunt genera eleemosynarum: una corporalis, egenti dare quidquid potueris; altera spiritualis, dimittere ei a quo laesus fueris; tertia delinquentem corrigere, et errantes in viam reducere veritatis.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Prov.11.17 — A man who is kind to himself does good to his own flesh, but one who is cruel to his own body is ruthless.
- ↩Luke.6.36 — Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
- ↩Luke.6.36 — Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
- ↩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.
- ↩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.
- ↩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.
- ↩Prov.14.21 — Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but he who shows mercy to the poor—happy is he.
- ↩Prov.21.13 — Whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also cry out and not be answered.
- ↩Prov.21.13 — Whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also cry out and not be answered.
Notes
- 1 ↩Candidate allusion to Proverbs 11:17 (Vulgate). Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
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