On the Collections, Fifth Sermon

Keeping to what the apostles handed down and instituted, dearly beloved, we urge you as watchful shepherds to celebrate with religious devotion that day which they purged of wicked superstitions and consecrated to deeds of mercy. In this way we show that the authority of the fathers still lives among us, and that we obediently hold to their teaching. For the holy usefulness of such a practice belongs not only to times past but to our own age as well, so that what helped them to destroy vain things may help us to grow in virtues. And what is so fitting for faith, what so much in harmony with godliness, as to help the poverty of the needy, to take up the care of the weak, to relieve the needs of our brothers and sisters, and to remember one’s own condition in the hardships of others? In this work only he who knows what he has given to each one rightly discerns how much a person can and cannot do. For not only spiritual riches and heavenly gifts are received from God; earthly and material possessions also come from his bounty, so that he may rightly require an account of those things which he has not so much placed in our possession as committed to our stewardship. So we must use God’s gifts properly and wisely, so that the material for good works does not become an occasion of sin. For wealth, in its own kind and seen as a means, is good, and is of the greatest benefit to human society when it is in the hands of the kind and open-handed, and when the luxurious man does not squander it nor the miser hoard it. For whether it is badly stored or unwisely spent, it is equally lost. [a]

It is praiseworthy to flee from excess and to avoid wasting money on base pleasures. And many, in their grandeur, disdain to hide their wealth, and in the abundance of their goods look down on mean and miserly thrift. Yet such men’s generosity is not blessed, nor is their thrift to be praised, if their riches benefit themselves alone: if no poor people are helped by their goods, no sick people nourished; if out of the abundance of their great possessions the captive gets no ransom, the stranger no comfort, the exile no relief. Rich men of this kind are needier than all the needy. For they lose the returns they might have forever, and while they gloat over the brief and not always unhindered enjoyment of what they possess, they are not fed on the bread of justice or the sweetness of mercy. Outwardly splendid, they have no light within. Of things temporal they have plenty, but of things eternal they have utter lack. For they starve their own souls and bring them to shame and nakedness, because of all the things they put into their earthly storehouses they spend none on heavenly treasures.

But perhaps there are some rich people who, although they are not in the habit of helping the church’s poor with generous gifts, still keep other commands of God, and who think that, among their many good deeds of faith and uprightness, they will be pardoned for lacking this one virtue. But this virtue is so important that, if the rest exist without it, they can be of no use. For though a man is full of faith, and chaste, and sober, and adorned with other still greater distinctions, yet if he is not merciful he cannot deserve mercy. For the Lord says, “Blessed are the merciful, for God will have mercy on them.” And when the Son of Man comes in his majesty and is seated on his glorious throne, and all the nations are gathered together and the good are divided from the bad, for what will those who stand on the right be praised, except for works of kindness and deeds of love, which Jesus Christ will count as done to himself? For he who made man’s nature his own has separated himself in nothing from man’s lowliness. And what charge will be brought against those on the left, except their neglect of love, their inhuman harshness, their refusal of mercy to the poor? It is as if those on the right had no other virtues, and those on the left no other faults. But on the great and final day of judgment, large-hearted generosity and ungodly stinginess will be counted of such weight that they outweigh all other virtues and all other failings, so that for the one people will gain entrance into the kingdom, and for the other they will be sent into eternal fire. [b]

So let no one, dearly beloved, flatter himself on any merits of a good life if works of love are lacking in him, and let him not trust in the purity of his body if he is not cleansed by the purification of almsgiving. For “almsgiving wipes out sin,” kills death, and puts out the punishment of everlasting fire. But whoever has not been fruitful in it will receive no indulgence from the great Rewarder, as Solomon says: “He who shuts his ears so as not to hear the weak will himself call on the Lord, and there will be no one to hear him.” That is why Tobias too, while instructing his son in the rules of godliness, says, “Give alms from your substance, and do not turn your face from any poor man; so it will come about that the face of God will not be turned from you.” This virtue makes all virtues profitable. For by its presence it gives life to that very faith by which “the righteous lives,” and which is said to be “dead without works”; because as the reason for works lies in faith, so the strength of faith lies in works. “So while we have time,” as the apostle says, “let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” “But let us not grow weary in doing good, for in his own time we will reap.” So the present life is the time for sowing, and the day of repayment is the time of harvest, when everyone will reap the fruit of his seed according to how much he has sown. And no one will be disappointed in the yield of that harvest, because it is the intentions of the heart, rather than the sums spent, that will be counted. And little sums from little means will produce as much as great sums from great means. So, dearly beloved, let us carry out this institution of the apostles. And since the first collection will be next Sunday, let everyone prepare to give willingly, so that each one, according to his ability, may join in this most sacred offering. Your very alms, and those who will be helped by your gifts, will intercede for you, so that you may always be ready for every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns for ages without end. Amen. [c]