Shut up alms in your storehouses: and it shall deliver you from all affliction.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 29:12 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 29
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Those who are going to receive the kingdom have given aid to the poor like good, faithful Christians, following the words of the Lord and confidently hoping in his promises. This is how they conducted themselves, because if they had not, their lives that were otherwise suited to holiness would have remained sterile, limiting themselves to abstaining from sins, not violating chastity or abandoning themselves to drunkenness, not stealing or doing anything bad. If they had not added charitable actions, they would remain sterile, only observing the first part of the commandment, "Stay far away from evil," and not the other part, "and do good." Thus, when it says, "Come, receive your kingdom," this call is not motivated by the fact that they have lived in chastity, refrained from stealing, or that they have not taken advantage of the poor, or robbed other people"s possessions or perjured themselves. Rather, it says, "Because I was hungry and you gave me something to eat." This fact is recognized as all the more important if the Lord was silent about the rest and only focused on this merit. In an analogous way, when he says to others, "Go into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels," he does not introduce any of the other causes that could have been adduced for their sentences because they were adulterers, murderers, liars, sacrilegious, blasphemers, unbelievers; instead he only says, "I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat." I see that this has made an impression on you and astonishes you; this is truly amazing what he is saying. I will try to sort out for you the meaning and communicate it to you. It is written, "As water extinguishes a blazing fire, so aid given to the poor cancels one"s sins." And still, "Visit mercy on the heart of the poor, and the same will pray to the Lord for you." We have already cited the passage, "Listen, my king, and redeem your sins with mercy." These are some of the many passages from the Word of God that demonstrate the importance of mercy in order to extinguish and to cancel sins. Or, there are also those whom the Lord condemns"or no, rather, those whom he is going to reward with crowns, as we have heard, for their acts of charity, as though he were saying, It would be difficult when weighing and examining carefully your actions to find a reason not to condemn you. Instead, he says, "Enter into the kingdom because I was hungry and you gave me something to eat." Therefore, they will be saved, not because they have not sinned but because they have redeemed their sins with their good works.
