There is a story in the book of Tobit that a dear friend of mine wrote about in his blog. Fr. Tim wrote about how Tobit’s wife Anna received a goat for her work, kind of a bonus for doing a good job. Tobit however had recently slept in an outdoor area near a wall, and a pigeon’s had left their waste there. The bacteria from the waste made him blind. While he was yet blind Anna brought home the goat that her employer had given and Tobit refused to eat it! You see Tobit thought it was a stolen goat, and as such he wanted it taken back where it came from.
From Tobit – And my wife Anna did take women’s works to do. And when she had sent them home to the owners, they paid her wages, and gave her also besides a kid. And when it was in my house, and began to cry, I said unto her, From whence is this kid? is it not stolen? render it to the owners; for it is not lawful to eat any thing that is stolen. But she replied upon me, It was given for a gift more than the wages. Howbeit I did not believe her, but bade her render it to the owners: and I was abashed at her. But she replied upon me, Where are thine alms and thy righteous deeds?
We are often like Tobit in our lives. We lay our head in a place that is filled with unclean things. That is, we live in a world full of sin and often times we allow that sin our life. While that cannot take us out of the hands of the Lord, it can indeed make it difficult to see blessings when they come our way. Just like Tobit we can miss out on blessings because our eyes are clouded over with the sin of the world.
It’s important that we instead spend our time doing things that we know God approves of. Via the sacraments, action and prayer we can keep our lives in God’s hands. Via the sacraments and action we can instead be the change that each of us needs to be, by doing just as you suggested and going forth giving of the abundance that the Lord has blessed us with. I think if each of us truly reassess our lives we can see places where we can cut luxuries and wants, and instead use that money/food/clothing to bless those who do not have.
Luke 3:11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
As John instructed in Luke 3 verse 11, if we have two cloaks give one to someone who has none, and if we have extra food give that away as well. We need to continue to live by these instructions, looking closely at our actions to see where they come from. If they are coming from our heart out of love, then they are actions we should indeed take. If they are actions that come from our own desires and wants, and put self first then we should rethink them.
In Christ,
Brian