Alms And Cleansing

Dicit Scriptura divina: Sicut aqua exstinguit ignem, ita eleemosyna exstinguit peccatum. Magna plane et cunctis ambienda sententia, quae hominibus pene jam mortuis, et peccatorum suorum incendio arefactis, redivivum quoddam beneficium pollicetur, ut interveniente eleemosyna, sicut aqua intermortuis succus, refrigerium arescentibus infundatur; hoc est, ut miseri homines, qui in peccatis aruerant, ad vitam eleemosynis reviviscant; sitque illis misericordia fons salutis, quibus avaritia fuerat mortis incendium; ut flammas quas sibi peccando incenderant largiendo restinguant; atque utiliore commercio, qui pecuniam quondam dederat ut adulterium perpetraret, nunc pecuniam eroget, ut adulter esse jam desinat; et emat sibi quodammodo innocentiam, qui sibi emerat aliquando peccatum; dicit enim Dominus ad discipulos suos: Date eleemosynam et ecce omnia munda sunt vobis. Quamvis ergo pollutus, quamvis multis criminibus circumseptus, si eleemosunas feceris, innocens coepisti; abstergit enim eleemosyna quod avaritia polluebat; et maculam quam res alienas diripiendo contraxeras tuas erogando purificas. Vide ergo quae sit misericodiae gratia, quae una, et sola virtus cunctorum est redemptio peccatorum. Videamus namque interpretationem ipsius divinae sententiae, ut intelligamus cui rei eleemosyna comparetur; ait enim: Sicut aqua exstinuit ignem, ita eleemosyna exstinguit delictum. Aqua ergo misericordiae comparatur: sed aquam invenio de fonte misericordiae; necesse mihi est misericordiae fontem quaere; invenio plane fontem misericordiae; fons, de quo dicit propheta: Quoniam apud te est fones vitae, et in lumine tuo videbimus lumen. Ipse, inquam, est fons, qui in Evangelio a Samaritana muliere, sicut lectum nuper audivimus, aquam postulat, sed peccata condonat; aquam putei reprobat, sed fontem vitae perennis indulget; ait enim: Omnis qui biberit ex aqua hac, sitiet iterum, qui autem biberit ex aqua quam dabo illi, non sitiet in aeternum. Aquam ergo Salvator a muliere postulat, et sitire se simulat, ut sitientibus aeternam gratiam largiatur.  Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia XCVII, De eleemosynis et de muliere Samaritana Source: Migne PL 57. 477C-479A

Divine Scripture says: 'As water extinguishes fire, so alms extinguish sin.' 1 Clearly great is the meaning that surrounds all this, which to men already dead, those who have been dried up by the fire of their sins, already promises the good of revival, that alms intervening, like liquid to those perishing, floods their burning with refreshment, that is, men who are merciful, who by sin are burnt up, are returned to life by charity, and by mercy the fount of life may be theirs to whom avarice was the fire of death, and that flame which blazed up in them to sin may be extinguished by largess, and in more useful commerce, they who had given money that they may commit adultery, may now expend money that they abstain from adultery and buy for themselves a certain innocence, who had for a time had bought themselves sin, for the Lord says to His disciples, 'Give alms and behold all that is yours will be made clean.' 2 Thus, although polluted, although hemmed in with many crimes, if you give alms, you have begun to be innocent, for alms clean that which avarice has polluted, and your giving will purify the stain that the taking of the things of another has contracted. See, then, the grace of mercy, which is the one and only virtue for the redemption of all sinners, for it says, 'As water extinguishes fire, so alms extinguish sin.' Water, then, is compared to mercy, but water I find is from the fount of mercy, and necessary, then, it is for me to seek the fount of mercy, and clearly I find the fount of mercy, the fount concerning which the Psalmist says, 'Because with you is the fount of mercy and in your light we see light.' 3 He, I say, is the fount, who in the Gospel, which we recently heard, asks for water from the Samaritan woman, but He who forgives sin, reproves the water of the well, and would grant the fount of eternal life, for He says, 'Everyone who drinks from this water, shall thirst again, but he who drinks from the water which I shall give to you, he shall not thirst unto eternity.' 4 Water, then, the Saviour asks from the woman, saying that He thirsts, that He give to those who thirst for eternal grace. Saint Maximus of Tours, from Homily 97 On Almsgiving and the Samaritan Woman 1.Sirach 3.33 2 Lk 11.21 3 Ps 35.9 4 Jn 4.13