CHARITY WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

Augustine said: The poor ought to be helped, not with money we have stolen but with money we have earned.  What kind of a gift is money which one person receives with joy while the other weeps to love it, for which one laughs, the other cries? 

You want to make a present from your own possessions?  The best way is to give back to your neighbour what you owe him.  Some people prefer to lose their own belongings by donating them rather than to present to others what actually belongs to them anyway. 

Jerome said:  It is a splendid thing for bishops to help the poor.  It is shameful for any priest to seek to enrich himself. 

Basil said: Don't become pleased with yourself when you help the poor and don't consider yourself better than those you help. 

Gregory said:  When we are presenting something to the poor that they need, we are not giving them what would be ours but that to which they have a right.   

(08-06-10)