НИЩИЕ

We neglect the poor too much. [Now] the time of fasting, such instructions and teachings about saving dogmas, continuous prayers, daily meetings, but what is the use of all this edification? No. Coming out from here, we see rows of beggars standing decorously on one side and the other, and we pass by so mercilessly, as if before us were pillars and not human beings. We rush home as if we were seeing soulless statues and not living people. Hunger prompts this, they will say. But let hunger force you to stop: after all, full stomachs, according to the proverb, do not understand the hungry, but the hungry, out of their own needs, are able to understand the needs of others; It’s better [to say] - and at the same time they cannot fully understand all this need? You run to the ready table and cannot wait even a little longer. And the poor man stands until the evening, hurrying and trying to collect his daily bread and seeing that the day is over, and not yet enough money has been collected to buy his daily bread, he grieves, worries and is forced to do what is beyond his strength. That is why in the evening [the beggars] lean on us more strongly, swear, swear, cry, sob, stretch out their hands and, involuntarily, do quite a lot of other things without shame. They are afraid that after everyone retires to their homes, they will have to wander in the city, as in the desert. Just as those who were shipwrecked during the day, grabbing a board, try to sail to the pier until the evening, so that when night falls, remaining outside the pier, they will not suffer a final wreck, so the poor, fearing hunger, like a shipwreck, rush until the evening to collect as much money as they need for bread, so that when everyone has gone home, they will not be left outside the pier. And the haven for them is the helping hands. But we are not touched by their misfortunes, either in the square or when we return home. On the contrary, even when a table is prepared for us, often filled with countless blessings (if we can call it good what we eat in condemnation of our inhumanity), when [I say] a table is prepared for us, we remain insensitive, despite the fact that we hear them walking down the narrow alleys, shouting loudly at the crossroads, suffering in the deepest darkness and complete emptiness. Yes, and having had enough, and going to sleep, and at this time hearing again that they are moaning loudly, we ignore them, as if we hear the barking of a dog, and not a human voice. And we do not pay attention to the time - as in late night, when everyone is already asleep, he is the only one grieving, nor to the unimportance of the request - how he asks us for bread or a few money, and nothing more, nor to the severity of his misfortune - how he struggles with continuous hunger, nor to the modesty of the petitioner - how he, being oppressed by such need, does not dare to come to the door and stand close, but expresses his request below, at a great distance. If he receives it, he sends out countless prayers; and if he does not receive, then he does not utter a harsh word, does not scold or scold those who could give and do not give. On the contrary, just as someone led by an executioner to a cruel execution, although he asks and begs everyone who passes by, does not receive any help and is led to execution without mercy, so this one, led by hunger, like an executioner, to a difficult wakefulness at night, stretches out his hands and with loud cries begs those sitting on top, in the houses, but, not meeting any kindness, he is rejected mercilessly and with great cruelty. But none of this affects us. And after such inhumanity, we dare to stretch out our hands to heaven, ask God for mercy and pray for forgiveness of our sins! And we are not afraid that after such a prayer lightning will fall on us, after such cruelty and inhumanity! How, tell me, do we go to sleep and rest and not be afraid that this same beggar will appear in our dreams, thin, dirty, dressed in rags, sad, crying and accusing us of cruelty? I have often heard from many that, having refused to help the poor during the day, at night they saw themselves tied with ropes, dragged by the hands of beggars, tormented and enduring many sufferings. But this is just a dream, a ghost, a temporary torment. But we are not afraid, tell me, that we will have to see this sad, crying, crying beggar in the bosom of Abraham, as that rich man saw Lazarus? (see Luke 16:23). What follows from this, I leave it to your conscience to [feel] - those bitter and inexorable punishments, how [the rich man] asked for water, how he did not receive even a drop, how his tongue burned, how, despite his great request, he did not receive mercy and how he suffered endlessly. May God grant us not to experience this, having heard the threat in words, avoid it in practice, and, having shown ourselves worthy of the love of the forefather Abraham, reach the same place with him (1). Think about how you will beg God for help when you reject the beggar who comes to you. “With the same measure,” it is said, “you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Think with what contrition he departs: his head is bowed down, he is crying, in poverty he received a new wound from contemptuous treatment of him. If you consider asking for alms an extreme misfortune, then think what a storm the one who asks, but does not receive and still leaves, experiences mocked. How long will we become like wild beasts and forget nature itself out of covetousness? Many sigh at this, but I want you not only now, but always to have such compassion. Think about the day when we will appear at the Judgment of Christ, when we will ask for mercy for ourselves and Christ, placing the poor in front of everyone, will tell us that because of one bread and one ox, you stirred up such a storm in these souls. will we answer? How will we be justified? And that He will set them before everyone, you can learn from His words: “Because you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (Matthew 25:45). It is not they who will speak to us, but God who will reprove us for them. When the rich man saw Lazarus, Lazarus did not say anything to him, but Abraham spoke for him. So it will be with the beggars whom we despise. We will see them not in a pitiful state, not with outstretched arms, but in a state of peace; and meanwhile we ourselves will appear in their form. And, oh, if only we had appeared only in their form, and had not been subjected to a much more severe punishment! After all, the rich man did not only want to be satisfied with grains there, but languished in the flames, suffered severely and heard: “You have already received your good things in your life, but Lazarus received evil things” (Luke 16:25) (9). We are deprived of all blessings, we become poorer than any beggar, because we decorate those houses that, having moved from here, we cannot take with us, and we do not care about those that can be moved with us there. After all, the decayed bodies of the poor will undoubtedly be resurrected. And then God, who commanded to love the poor, having gathered them, will praise those who cared for them, and will marvel at the fact that they tried in every possible way to support their life, which was ready to fade away either from hunger, or from nakedness and cold (11). You might be interested in: