On Works and Almsgiving 23–26

What shall we answer to this, dearest brothers? By what reasoning shall we defend the sacrilegious barrenness of the rich and their minds covered as with a night of darkness? By what excuse shall we clear them, we who are less than the devil's servants, so that we do not repay Christ even in small things for the price of his passion and blood? He has given us precepts; he has taught what his servants ought to do; he has promised a reward to those who work and threatened punishment to the barren; he has pronounced his sentence; he has foretold how he will judge. What excuse can there be for the idle, what defense for the barren? Only that, if the servant does not do what is commanded, the Lord will do what he threatens. He also says: “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you covered me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? Then the King will answer and say to them: Amen, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of these least of my brothers, you did it to me. Then he will say to those at his left: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not come to me. Then they too 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? And he will answer them: Amen, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. And these will go away into eternal fire, but the righteous into eternal life.” What greater thing could Christ proclaim to us? How could he more strongly call forth our works of righteousness and mercy than by saying that whatever is provided to the needy and poor is provided to him, and by saying that he is offended if it is not provided to the needy and poor? So that he who is not moved in the church by regard for his brother may at least be moved by the contemplation of Christ; and he who does not think of his fellow servant in labor and need may at least think of the Lord present in the very one he despises.

And therefore, dearest brothers, we whose fear is inclined toward God, and whose mind, having despised and trampled on the world, is lifted up to things above and divine, let us render obedience to the Lord with full faith, devoted mind, and continual working, so as to deserve well of him. Let us give Christ earthly garments, so as to receive heavenly clothing. Let us give worldly food and drink, so as to come to the heavenly banquet with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Lest we reap little, let us sow much. Let us provide for our security and eternal salvation while there is time, as the apostle Paul admonishes and says: “Therefore, while we have time, let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those of the household of faith. And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in its own time we shall reap.”

Let us think, dearest brothers, what the people of believers did under the apostles, when in the very beginnings the mind flourished with greater virtues, when the faith of believers was still glowing with the new heat of faith. Then they sold houses and estates and willingly and generously offered the proceeds to the apostles to be distributed to the poor; selling and disposing of their earthly patrimony, they transferred their lands to where they might gather the fruits of an eternal possession, buying houses there where they might begin to dwell forever. Such then was the abundance of their works as was the harmony of their love, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “The multitude of those who had believed acted with one soul and mind, and there was no distinction among them, nor did they count anything of the goods they had as their own, but they had all things in common.” This is truly to become a son of God by spiritual birth; this is to imitate the equity of God the Father by the heavenly law. For whatever is God's is common in our use, and no one is kept from his benefits and gifts so as to prevent the whole human race from enjoying the divine goodness and generosity equally. So the day gives light equally, the sun shines, the rain waters, the wind breathes, and there is one sleep for those who sleep, and the splendor of the stars and of the moon is common. By this example of equality, the owner of property on earth who shares his revenues and fruits with the brotherhood, while he is fair and just in common by free gifts, is an imitator of God the Father.

What will be the glory of those who work, dearest brothers, how great and supreme the joy, when the Lord begins to review his people, and, distributing to our merits and works the promised rewards, to grant heavenly things for earthly, eternal for temporal, great for small; to offer us to the Father, to whom he has restored us by his sanctification; to bestow on us eternity and immortality, for which he has renewed us by the life-giving power of his blood; to bring us back again to paradise; to open the kingdoms of heaven by the faithfulness and truth of his promise! Let these things cling firmly to our minds; let them be understood with full faith; let them be loved with the whole heart; let them be purchased by the magnanimity of unceasing works. A splendid and divine thing, dearest brothers, is saving work: a great consolation of believers, a wholesome safeguard of our security, a bulwark of hope, a protection of faith, a remedy for sin, a thing placed in the power of the doer, a thing both great and easy, a crown of peace without the danger of persecution, a true and very great gift of God, necessary for the weak, glorious for the strong, by whose help the Christian carries out spiritual grace, deserves well of Christ as judge, and counts God as his debtor. For this palm of saving works let us contend willingly and promptly; let us all run in the contest of righteousness, with God and Christ watching; and we who have already begun to be greater than the age and the world, let us not slow our course by any desire for the age and the world. If the day either of our release or of persecution finds us unencumbered, swift, and running in this contest of works, the Lord will never fail to reward our merits: to those who conquer in peace he will give a white crown for their works; in persecution he will add a second, purple one for their suffering.