That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to share;
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Those who have given liberally of their riches have had great gains to compensate them for light losses. Their joy at what they assured for themselves more securely by readiness to give outweighed their sadness at the surrender of possessions they more easily lost because they clung to them fearfully. Reluctance to remove their goods from this world exposed them to the risk of loss. There were those who accepted the Lord’s advice: “Do not store your treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Pile up treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Such people proved in the time of tribulation how wise they were in not despising the finest of advisers and the most faithful and unconquerable guardian of treasure. .
Whenever we talk about contempt for riches, some rich man replies to me: I have learned not to hope in the uncertainty of riches; I do not want to be rich, lest I fall into temptation; but since I am rich already, what am I to do with the possessions which I now happen to have? The apostle continues, “Let them give readily, sharing with others.” What does it mean to share with others? To share your possessions with the man who does not have any. Therefore, if you begin to share with others, you will not be that plunderer and robber who broods over the wants of the poor as over the property of another.
That they do good, he says, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
The first phrase refers to wealth, the second to charity. For to be willing to communicate, implies that they are sociable and kind.
Let those who want Christ to spare them have compassion for the poor. Let those who desire a bond with the fellowship of the blessed be “readily disposed” toward nourishing the wretched. No human being should be considered worthless by another. The nature which the Creator of the universe made his own should not be looked down upon in anyone.
