“Give
Alms” by Melanie Rigney (@melanierigney)
For freedom Christ
set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)
Let
your mercy come to me, O Lord. (Psalm 119:41a)
“Did
not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within,
give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.” (Luke
10:41-42)
Piety
Lord, protect
me from the human desire to submit to the yoke of slavery.
 |
| Image credit is: August Heinrich Mansfeld [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
Study
Alms, alms,
alms. The word shows up 163 times at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’
site…and just three times in the New Testament, one of them in today’s Gospel
reading.
While the
first image that may come to mind is providing funds to someone who’s
destitute, almsgiving means much more than that. The USCCB
site tells us it’s “donating money or goods to the poor and performing
other acts of charity.” The Catechism of
the Catholic Church calls
it “a witness to fraternal charity … a work of justice pleasing to God.”
So what does
all that mean? That tithing to your parish or donating to the Bishop’s Lenten
Appeal or taking gently used items to Goodwill are all good things. But
almsgiving doesn’t end there. People are poor in ways beyond their bank
accounts. Fraternal charity includes all our brothers and sisters, not just
those who frequent homeless shelters and food pantries; it includes people we
are tempted to envy for their wealth and despise for their political views.
You see,
giving alms is about surrender. It’s about not being careful as we select those
with whom we share our witness, financially, emotionally, or otherwise. It’s
about being consistent and non-discriminatory when it comes to those works of
justice, whether or not we receive it in return on this earth. When we pick and
choose to whom we reflect Christ in our daily encounters, we become dirtier and
dirtier inside. We become slaves to our biases and self-interests. We turn over
our freedom to evil without evil having to lift a finger.
Action
Give alms to
someone you find difficult to love.
No comments:
Post a Comment