of St Margaret Mary
3rd week
Moses, the faithful servant
“In the desert, the people were thirsty. The sons of Israel recriminated against Moses. Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I going to do with this people? A little more, they will stone! » » Ex 17, 3 God builds His people in the desert by a double means: he gives him a man, Moses, the humblest on earth and the 10 words, 10 commandments to guide his steps. After fasting and prayer, let us turn to God’s call to give alms.
3rd Sunday
Feeding the members of Jesus Christ!
“Gentlemen, if it were not for this reason that in the Gospel it is said that Jesus was hungry, after fasting forty days and forty nights, as if to warn us that we must imitate his fast and at the same time remember the necessity where it is, that is to say that it is necessary to fast and give alms, that there should be no hunger, following his example, only to become more sensitive to that which he suffers in the poor, and, to be no longer able to relieve her. » 14
3rd monday
The joy of almsgiving.
“When almsgiving brings us no other fruit than the pleasure it gives to do good, it seems to me that this alone should be enough to make us love this virtue. It is said today that we give little because the weather is bad. And I say that the weather is so bad because we give little. »
3rd Tuesday
Almsgiving as Justice
“There is no doubt that you possess your property by just titles; but I say, with the Master of the School, that there is injustice in the job you make , if you consume all for your own use; I say you hold back unjustly what you could give to the poor, …”
3rd Wednesday
Almsgiving as the Will of God
“For supposing that there is a God, who created all men, He must necessarily have provided them all with the things necessary for their maintenance, since He who gives life is obliged to provide the means to preserve it. However, all goods are distributed and there are a thousand people who own nothing on earth. It is therefore necessary, either that Providence be defective, or that the distribution to the poor is in the hands of the rich. It must be or God has neglected the care of those who lack everything, that is to say, in a word, that Either there is no God, or part of your wealth, gentlemen, belongs to those who have no property. » 14 15
3rd Thursday
Almsgiving as Charity
“How will you persuade me, Christian listeners, that you love your brother like yourself, if you suffer him to be naked in the greatest cold, while you are so richly dressed? […] And we dare to affirm that we love them as ourselves? You are only asked for the superfluous; but if one truly loves, one wouldn’t be satisfied with that. Even the most necessary things would be cut off… ”
3rd Friday
What you have done to the least of my brothers..
. “ “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat ” (Mt 25) … I am so terrified by this separation of the goats and by Jesus’ reproach to them, not of having committed thefts, sacrileges, adulteries, but of not having not assisted himself in the person of the poor. Could he order it more expressly than by making us understand that we will be punished, if we have neglected it? He did not just say, in general, that he claimed that the poor were assisted; he went down to the detail of the things that can be necessary. »
3rd Saturday
Almsgiving covers a multitude of sins
“Gentlemen, the forgiveness of sins infallibly accompanies almsgiving. She is like a sweet purgatory which purifies the soul, which cleanses it of all its tasks ; and that is why in Scripture it is compared to the fire where the metals are refined. We can say, gentlemen, that this is the only resource of the rich in the world. Their state exposes them to great temptations, to great falls… if they neglect alms, I do not see where it is that they hope to save themselves. But we must also admit that the way is easy and that they are very unhappy if they eternally damn themselves, having the key to Heaven in their hands and being able to open it as easily as it is easy for them to open their purse. »