February 6, 2023. Needy, though we are…
Early Christians showed mercy, caring for the poor and vulnerable, and enacted a multitude of other virtues that were uncommon at the time, but that many of us take for granted today as being right, just, and good. But apart from the One who taught that everyone is your neighbor, and that you should forgive your brother “seventy times seven times…” we forget just how important these works of mercy are, and without His grace, we fail in our own weak attempts to apply the virtues in our lives.
Accounts from circa the second century describe how startling and different were the lives of the early Christians who were living their Faith as it had been taught and demonstrated to them by Jesus. One such account, from a philosopher named Aristides includes this detail of the charity Christians extended to others:
“…they love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he, who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food…”
So may we live.
I know I need this reminder to “look not to [my] own interests, but also to the interests of others…” (Phil 2:4). It’s essential to help the poor, feed the hungry, protect the vulnerable and weak, and care for the sick and dying. It’s not just good medicine for them, but necessary for our spiritual health.
"When people are empty of Christ, a thousand and one other things come and fill them up: jealousies, hatreds, boredom, melancholy, resentment, a worldly outlook, worldly pleasures. Try to fill your soul with Christ so that it's not empty."
- St. Porphyrios
Come Holy Spirit.
Photo February 4, 2023. Christ the King Catholic Church.
