Almsgiving: Day 7

“He said also to the man who had invited him, ‘When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’” (Luke 14:12-14)

Intentions: That we may fervently and faithfully minister to and pray for those most in need, either materially or spiritually.

Action: Meditate on the fact that Jesus invites us, the spiritually poor, mamed, lame and blind, to the banquet. How can we as Catholic Christians respond Christ’s love, and love our neighbor in the same way, as we are commanded to do (John 15:12)? Contemplate the following seven “Spiritual Works of Mercy”, and how you can undertake them in the real world:

• Instructing the ignorant
• Counseling the doubtful
• Admonishing sinners
• Comforting the afflicted
• Forgiving offences
• Bearing wrongs patiently
• Praying for the living and the dead

Almsgiving: Day 6

“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)

Intentions: That we may have a real, living faith that manifests through self-giving and works.

Action: Meditate on how much more you can give to God and neighbour, with little daily sacrifices and self-denial, our little “deaths” to ourselves, that through it, we may gain so much more life than we could give – “For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35). Contemplate the following seven “Corporal Works of Mercy”, and how you can undertake them in the real world:

• Feeding the hungry
• Giving drink to the thirsty
• Clothing the naked
• Sheltering the homeless
• Visiting the sick
• Visiting the imprisoned
• Burying the dead

Almsgiving: Day 5

At Caesare’a there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms liberally to the people, and prayed constantly to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror, and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and bring one Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” (Acts 10:1-6)

Intentions: That those who are yet to come to the Catholic faith may “nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience” (CCC# 847), that they may find eternal life; that our almsgiving and prayer may “ascend as a memorial” before God, that He may draw us closer to Him.

Action: Cornelius, a Gentile, heard the Gospel, received the Holy Spirit, and became one of the first Baptised Gentile Christians, and a cause for the acceptance of other Gentiles into the Church – all due to his devotion and generosity. Meditate on the eternal consequences, and therefore the infinite value of our sacrifices, devotion and commitment to Christ here on Earth.