Sermon 350F

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Sermon of Saint Augustine

On the alms which are given to all

To whom alms should be given.

There are those who think that alms should only be given to the righteous, and that nothing of the sort ought to be given to sinners. In this error, the Manicheans primarily occupy a place of sacrilege, who believe that in any food the members of God are mixed and entangled, which they think should be spared, lest they be polluted by sinners and entangled in more wretched knots. This insanity is perhaps less worthily repulsed than it offends the sense of all the sane, if it is merely proposed. However, some, not feeling as such, think that sinners should not be fed so that we may not oppose God, whose indignation is declared in them, as if from this he could become angry with us, because we wish to help those whom he wants to punish. They also cite testimonies of the holy scriptures where we read: Give mercy and do not accept the sinner and repay vengeance to the ungodly and sinners; do good to the humble and do not give to the impious, for even the most high hates sinners and will repay vengeance to the ungodly. Not understanding how these words should be taken, they adopt a detestable cruelty. Hence, it is necessary for us, brothers, to speak to your charity briefly on this matter, lest with perverse thought, since you do not understand the divine will in the divine books, you consent to human depravity.

The Apostle teaches that mercy must be granted to all.

Paul the Apostle most clearly teaches that mercy must be shown to all: "Therefore let us not grow weary in doing good; for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." From this it indeed appears sufficiently clear that the righteous should be preferred in such works. For whom else should we understand as the household of faith, when elsewhere it is clearly stated: "The just shall live by faith"? Yet the bowels of mercy should not be closed to other men, even sinners, nor even if they bear a hostile mind against us, as our very Savior says and warns: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Nor is this silent in the old books; for there it is written: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink," a testimony also used by the Apostle. Yet those things that we mentioned above are still true, because they are divine precepts as well: "Show mercy, and do not welcome a sinner." These were said, so that you do not do good to any sinner because he is a sinner, but that you do good to him who hates you, not because he is a sinner, but because he is a man. Thus you will hold both precepts, neither lenient in punishment nor inhumane in help. For everyone who rightly rebukes a sinner desires nothing but that he should not be a sinner. Therefore, he hates in him what God also hates, so that what man did is destroyed and what God made is saved. For man made the sin, but God made the man. And when we speak of these two names, 'man' and 'sinner,' they are not said without purpose. Therefore, because he is a sinner, rebuke him; and because he is a man, have mercy on him. And you will not at all free the man unless you have pursued the sinner.

Mercy should not be closed even to sinners, for they are human beings as well.

To this office all discipline is attentive, as it is fitting and appropriate for each ruler, not only the bishop governing his flock, but also the poor man governing his household, the rich man governing his family, the husband governing his wife, the father governing his offspring, the judge governing his province, the king governing his nation. All these, when they are good, they surely desire the well-being of those whom they govern and according to the authority granted by the Lord of all, who also governs the rulers, they strive to ensure that those they govern are preserved as human beings and perish as sinners. Thus, they fulfill what is written: "Give mercy and do not take up the sinner, lest you desire him to be saved in that which makes him a sinner, and render vengeance to the impious and sinners, so that very thing which makes them sinners and impious may be destroyed in them; do good to the humble because he is humble, and do not give to the impious because he is impious, for the Most High also hates sinners and will render vengeance to the impious." Yet, because they are not only sinners and impious, but also human beings, He makes His sun rise on the good and the evil and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Thus, mercy must be withheld from no man, impunity must be granted to no sin.

Behold the pain of the present, behold the fear of the future.

For what do we achieve by rebuking except to punish sins? And when anyone turns to God in repentance, what else does he do but rebuke and punish himself? By no means, therefore, do you stray from the work of mercy when you persecute in someone what you wish mercifully to persecute in yourself. See what the prophet proclaims about the future preachers of the kingdom of heaven: "The saints will exult in glory, they will rejoice in their beds, the exultations of God in their mouths, and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations." And lest anyone think that such swords cause bloodshed and slaughter of bodies, as if anticipating such thoughts, after saying, "to execute vengeance on the nations," he adds what kind of vengeance: "Rebukes," he says, "among the peoples." These are the swords in their hands, that is, given the power to use them. For they are two-edged by the sorrow of present things and the fear of future things. "Who," says the Apostle, "will make me glad but he who is made sad by me?" Behold, the sorrow of present things. "And when I come," he says, "I will not spare. Do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?" Behold, the fear of future things. Again, in another place, he thus commends the Lord's rule over men: "For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged by the Lord. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world." In the affliction of correction is the sorrow of present things; in the threat of condemnation is the fear of future things. These are the two-edged swords; this is the persecution due to the sinner, lest mercy be denied to the man.

Humanity is bestowed upon a person by another person because of the fellowship of nature itself.

It may seem surprising to those who pay little attention and perhaps incredible, how a sinner is accepted and nourished precisely because he is a sinner. For it is one thing when someone feeds a man because he knows or believes him to be just, looking at that reward of which it is said: "Whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward" and another thing when someone feeds any man as a man serving man, adhering to that general command where the Lord says: "Whatever you want men to do to you, do so to them as well." There are indeed those who love the very sins in sinners and because of these sins spend whatever they lavish on them, so that you would not at all see a different kind of work from that which is shown to the righteous because they are righteous. Just as the righteous, endowed with praiseworthy piety, hasten to offer services of humanity to the servants of God, from whom they themselves may be received into eternal abodes, so conversely the sacrilegious and impious seek out types of wickedness in men, so that by a certain means of purchasing they squander their temporal goods and with whom they later come into eternal torments. Between these two kinds lies a middle ground where humanity is rendered by man to man, not because of righteousness or sin, but because of the fellowship of nature itself. This middle kind is knowingly used by the pious, and even the wicked are sometimes touched by it.

Mercy is not denied from one human to another human.

Therefore, since it is necessary for the steward of the kingdom of heaven to minister like Onesiphorus to Paul, and a different thing to offer alms to the beggar as received by the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate, and another thing to distribute rewards for vices as actors, charioteers, and hunters are enriched by the mad, the Church engages in the first and middle kinds of giving but condemns, reproaches, and corrects the latter which is contrary to the first and best. However, from this very contradiction, our lazy ones, who scarcely break bread for the hungry Christ, must be aroused when theatrical benefactors scarcely leave bread for their own children. On account of the middle kind, by which humanity is owed from man to man, it can happen that even a son of Gehenna, moved by some pity, feeds the steward of God, and a son of the Church, if he finds a starving person, even a hunter. However, neither did the former love justice, but could not entirely scorn the common condition of mortality, nor did the latter receive the sinner but did not deny mercy to the man.

The Lord also taught such alms by doing.

About that first type of good work, the Lord speaks thus: "Whoever receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward, and whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones solely in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, will not lose his reward." And regarding that which I mentioned a little earlier: "Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that they may receive you into eternal dwellings." Also, there is this: "Come, blessed ones of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food," and so on. But they said: "When did we see you hungry?" To whom he replied: "When you did it to one of these least of my brethren, you did it to me." About that type of mercy, where no one's misery is to be despised, although to a sinner because of his sin no mercy is owed, he thus admonished us when he said to someone who had invited him along with others: "When you give a banquet, do not call your friends who can also invite you, but call the lame, the blind, the weak, the beggars who do not have anything with which to repay you. It will be repaid to you in the resurrection of the righteous." From this, we can also infer from the custom of the Lord himself that the disciples thought Judas, his betrayer, had been told to prepare something to be given to the poor on the festival day, since he had the money box, when he said to him: "What you are about to do, do quickly." For why would they have suspected this if the Lord had not also taught by example to give such alms? As for that first type of good works, in which anyone serves the righteous because of the merit of righteousness, such services were rather ministered to him by others. For why did they collect money in the money box except from the offerings of the ones serving? And certain devout women are very clearly named in the Gospel who accompanied his journey with devoted service and ministered to him from their own substance.

Mercy is not to be denied even to sinners, because they are also human beings.

From this it is especially to be understood, how alms ought not to be disregarded, which are given to any poor people by the right of humanity, since the Lord alleviated the need of the poor from those purses which he filled from the wealth of others. But if anyone perhaps said that neither were those weak and beggars whom the Lord commanded to be invited, nor those to whom He used to distribute from the purses, sinners, and therefore it does not follow that sinners should also be received or fed by the merciful because of gospel testimonies, let him consider what I have already mentioned above, that certainly those who hate and persecute the church are sinners and especially wicked, about whom it is said: Do good to those who hate you, and this is supported by the example of God the Father who makes His sun rise on the good and the bad, and rains on the just and the unjust. Therefore, let us not receive sinners because they are sinners, but nevertheless, let us treat them themselves with human consideration because they are also human. Let us pursue the particular iniquity in them, let us pity the common condition, and thus tirelessly while we have time let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.