Maxim-ising Our Spiritual Life (10)
In giving alms to the poor we must act as good ministers of the Providence of God. (18 September)
God’s providence in our life is best understood as running deep. Every good gift we have comes from him and he provides for us in all sorts of ways. In many of them we cooperate with his gifts to bring about more, becoming stewards and co-creators with God of his ongoing creation. At its deepest, his providence is felt in our very being. There is no heartbeat, no blink of our eye, that God does not love into being, so intent is he on providing for us.
Hospitality and giving to those who have less than us have always been essential expressions of Christian love. The scriptures are full of references to such acts, from entertaining angels when we are unaware to the parable of the Good Samaritan binding up the wounds of one who should be his adversary. Giving alms to the poor, as St Philip puts it, means that we are not just beneficiaries of God’s providence to us, but are, in fact, participants in it. We become co-workers with providence when we give to those who are in need.
This activity was one of St Philip’s first tools when he sought to help his young friends along the path to conversion. As good and laudable as saying our prayers and thinking on the things of God are in themselves, they do not amount to very much in real terms (as St James reminded us last Sunday) if they do not translate into action. Faith must inspire works, and so St Philip’s first approach to a new friend began with the words, “When shall we begin to do good?” When shall we begin to do good, not just consider its merits or think about how nice it is that other people do that sort of thing. The young nobles St Philip recruited into the early Oratory really were the rich at the service of the poor. But then, are we not all rich who experience God’s love, who are able to serve others? In stretching out the hand of welcome and service, of giving to those who are poor we all become rich in the currency that really matters, the currency of heaven.
In 1558 St Philip founded a hostel for pilgrims and convalescents who found themselves on hard times or with no one to care for them. He also founded a confraternity to staff and fund this hostel that scooped up the wretched and the forgotten and gave them a home and friendship. That confraternity (which still exists in Rome) is dedicated to the Blessed Trinity and so by their simple acts of kindness to the homeless and the poor they express something sublime — the very love that is at the heart of God, the communion of the Trinity.
Although the world would put the donor in a position of power over the one who receives the gift, in the logic of God’s Kingdom it is otherwise. In fact an equality is created. By giving to others in acts of generosity or service or simple human kindness we are sharing what we have already received from God and are sharing in the building of his kingdom by passing it on. We are restoring the dignity to the poor that is theirs by virtue of being God’s children.
So since we cannot avoid being the beneficiaries of the providence of God, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we refused to avoid being good ministers and stewards of that providence by serving those in need just as part and parcel of everyday life. Since we are all pilgrims on the road to heaven wouldn’t it be delightful if we made it our special care to share our friendship with our fellow pilgrims who have slipped behind a little. If we took that as seriously as saying our prayers, God could do much through us indeed.
We are celebrating the launch of our new edition of St Philip’s Maxims this summer by exploring some of those maxims together each week.