"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Evagrius said that there was a brother who had no possessions except a Gospel book and he sold it in order to feed the poor. He said something worth remembering: “I have sold even the word that commands me to sell all and give to the poor”
– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V
When I was at University, I read a book by Jean Vanier in which he said that whenever a homeless person asked him for money, he would reach into his pocket and hand over the first coin he found, whether big or small.
Likewise, in an interview with Fulton Sheen’s niece, she said that her uncle would give money to the poor whenever it was asked of him. When she asked him if he might be being lied to by those asking for help, he simply responded “I can’t take the chance”.
A little while ago I did a post about tithing where I spoke about the general responsibility Christians have towards the poor. However, this begs the question: what is the best way in which to help the poor?
For example, most social workers I’ve known have always said that you should never give money to beggars. Following this advice, some of my friends no longer hand over cash, but instead make sure that their car, purse or bag is always stocked with snacks, so that they have something to give when asked for help.
I recently read an article in Crisis Magazine which looks at this issue. I’d be interested to see what you think about it. What you think is the best way to help the poor?
I’ve started reading “Rediscovering Catholicism” by Matthew Kelly and I wanted to share a one quotations from the opening pages:
“Every single day the Catholic Church feeds, houses, and clothes more people, takes care of more sick people, visits more prisoners, and educates more people than any other institution on the face of the earth could ever hope to…
The Catholic education system alone saves American taxpayers eighteen billion dollars a year…
This year, catholic charities will provide 2.2 million free meals to the hungry and the needy of Chicago. We don’t ask them if they are Catholic – we just ask them if they are hungry”
– Matthew Kelly, Rediscovering Catholicism
When there is a scandal in the Catholic Church it is blasted from every media outlet so that the whole world gets to hear about it. Yet how is it that the continued good works of the Church so often go unreported?
Aside from the fact that it’s not as sensational, it’s not news! This is the same service which the Church has offered the world every day for two thousand years. It ceased being news a long time ago…
As I said, I’ll still be producing these Lectionary Notes from time to time, as and when we have new people leading the JP2 Group’s Bible Study. This week Rob will be leading for the first time, so here are some notes…
Our Readings this week concern God’s gratuitous gift of His Spirit.
In the First Reading, even though Eldad and Medad were not at the Tent of Meeting, God’s Spirit falls upon them. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples not to hinder the work done in His name by others simply because they didn’t belong to their group. Jesus then gives them some warnings, exhorting them to cast off anything which hinders their entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. St. James in our Second Reading is handing out warnings too, especially to the rich.
The Sacraments are the “ordinary” means of God’s grace (although far from “ordinary”!), but God’s grace is not simply restricted to the Sacraments. So, as you go about this week, be on the lookout for God’s “extra-ordinary” grace at work…
“The bread you store up belongs to the hungry; the cloak that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor.” – St. Basil the Great
Yesterday I published a blog entry which contained the text which we are going to study tonight at the JP2 Group. We’re going to read this document as part of our three-week series looking at worship in the Early Church.
The text I posted yesterday was a substantial extract from a work by Justin Martyr. St. Justin was a Christian in the 2nd Century and he wrote an apologetic work addressed to the Emperor known as his First Apology. In this ancient document he provides a defense of the Christian faith, but he also describes in some detail the Christian worship of his era.
Justin wrote his First Apology in around AD 150 and, despite the nascent state of the Church at this time, the liturgy has a clear structure. Catholics and all those who attend “liturgical” churches should be able to recognize many things in Justin’s description which are present in their own worship:
1. Sunday Worship
Groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists say that Christians should worship on the Sabbath (Saturday), but it’s clear from St. Justin that in the Second Century Christian worship was on Sunday:
“And on the day called ‘Sunday’, all who live in cities or in the countryside gather… We hold our assembly on Sunday because it is the first day, on which God brought forth the world from darkness and matter. On the same day, Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead”