loving kindness, so that they may fly the more easily to God and reach him.
SERMON 206 107
Two sorts of almsgiving: giving and forgiving
2. But to our prayers we must add, by almsgiving and fasting, the wings of loving kindness, so that they may fly the more easily to God and reach him. From this the Christian mind can readily understand how far removed we should be from the fraudulent filching of other people's property; when it perceives how similar it is to fraud when you don't give to the needy what you don't need yourself. The Lord says, Give, and it will be given to you; forgive, and you will be forgiven (Lk 6:37-38). Let us practice these two sorts of almsgiving, namely giving and forgiving, gently and generously; since after all we pray to the Lord that good things may be given to us, and that evil things may not be repaid us.
Give, he says, and it will be given you. What could be fairer, what could be more appropriate, than that those who refuse to give should thereby defraud themselves, and not receive? If it's shameless of a farmer to look for a crop where he knows he hasn't sown any seed, how much more shameless must it be to look to God to be rich in giving, when you have declined to listen to a poor man asking? It's in the poor person, after all, that the one who is never hungry has wished to be fed. Let us not, then, spurn our God when he is needy in the poor, so that we in our need may be satisfied by him in his riches. We have needy people, and we are needy ourselves; so let us give, in order to receive.
But now, what is it that we do give? And in exchange for this paltry, visible, temporal and earthly whatever it is, what is it that we desire to receive? What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it come up into the heart of man (1 Cor 2:9). Unless he had made the promise, it would be sheer impudence to give these things and wish to receive those. And as for being unwilling to give even these things . .. !—things that we wouldn't even have at all, unless the one had given them, who urges us to give.2 So how can we have the nerve to hope he will give us both kinds of thing, if we ignore his commands in the least of them?
Forgive, and you will be forgiven (Lk 6:38); that is, pardon and you will be pardoned. Let fellow servant be reconciled with fellow servant; or else the servant will be justly punished by the Master.3 In this kind of almsgiving, nobody is poor. Even someone who in this time has nothing to live on, can do this, in order to live for ever. This kind of wealth is given free, is accumulated by being given, is not used up except when it is not being spent. So any of you whose quarrels have lasted until these days, be ashamed of yourselves and put an end to them. Put an end to them, and don't let them put an end to you. Don't hold on to them, or they'll hold on to you. Let them be eliminated by your redeemer, or they may eliminate their retainer.
Prayer flies beautifully when it's supported on wings of such virtues
3. Don't let your fasting be of the kind that the prophet might condemn, saying, This is not the fast I have chosen, says the Lord (Is 58:5). He's finding fault, you see, with the fasts of the quarrelsome; he's looking for the fasts of the kindhearted. He's finding fault with those who oppress others; he's looking for those who give relief. He's finding fault with those who stir up strife; he's