Monday, August 1,
2016
I’ve begun reading the Conferences
of the monk John Cassian (360-430). His conferences about the Christian life
and specifically about the monastic life have long been a rich source of
insight for monks throughout the ages. I’ve heard him quoted, or read, to me,
countless times over the years, and a new translation by Boniface Ramsey O.P.
has made them accessible to the modern reader.
Yesterday we spoke a bit about greed, and my reading of
Cassian today had a couple of insights worth pondering. It won’t take to much
effort to imagine that he is writing about our economic realities today:
“Piety and mercy [charity] are
necessary in this age, as long as inequity continues to dominate. Their
practice would not be called for even here were there not an overwhelming
number of poor, needy, and sick people, which is the result of the wickedness
of men who have seized for their own use—but not used—those things that were
bestowed upon all by the Creator of all. As long as such inequity is rampant in
this world, then, this behavior will be necessary and beneficial to the one who
practices it, crowning a good disposition and a pious will with the reward of
an eternal legacy. . . . But this will cease in the world to come, where equity
will rule and when there will no longer exist the inequity that made these
things obligatory.” (Conf 1.10.4-5)
Obviously we haven’t reached that point yet.
He goes on to say that our works of charity and love go with
us into heaven, since of all the theological virtues (faith, hope and love),
the only one to exist in the kingdom will be love. Cf for example, Saint Paul: “Love
never ends.” (I Co 13:8)
Interestingly enough, today’s Gospel passage, the feeding of
the 5 thousand (Matthew 14:23-21) has an illusion to the power of generosity
rather than greed. The people were hungy and only one or perhaps a couple of
them had any food to offer: 5 loaves and 2 fish. They gave this food over to
the apostles, who gave it to Jesus, and you know the rest of the story.
The moral here is that even our smallest gifts are used by
God in a way which sometimes can be multiplied far beyond our own human and
earthly limitations. Consider the results of the generosity of those who handed
over the loaves and fish. I thought of that this morning while receiving communion,
of how abundantly God blesses and multiplies something whose origin is in small
things: i.e., the bread and wine of the Last Supper becoming food to feed
millions and millions of people through endless ages.
Consider, if you will, how your small offerings of charity
might be used once you have sacrificed to give them over to those who have need
of them.
Consider, also, how the story would have turned out if those
who had the loaves and fish had decided to hoard them and keep them for
themselves lest they go hungry themselves. This is a sad commentary on the
economic realities of our world today, isn’t it?
God bless you.
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