Advice On Giving

Cum ergo facis eleemosynam, noli tuba canere ante te, sicut hypocritæ faciunt in synagogis, et in vicis, ut honorificentur ab hominibus. Amen dico vobis, receperunt mercedem suam. Te autem faciente eleemosynam, nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua: ut sit eleemosyna tua in abscondito, et Pater tuus, qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi. Arguit largientem ad suam famam, non ad pauperis famem; judicat non ubi facias, quando facias, sed qualiter facias: quia Deus de cordibus, non de manibus facta metitur; et de sensu, non de locis operum colligit qualitatem. Misericordiam coram se solum vult fieri, qui solus est misericordiae et remunerator et testis; et qui dicit: Esurivi, et dedistis mihi manducare. Vult in paupere sibi dari: et qui vult sibi dari, vult quod datum est se debere; et qui vult se debere quod datum est, vult largientibus nil perire. Deus parva poscit, maxima redditurus. Unde homo si in paupere Deo feneras, testes homines non requiras: fides arbitros non requirit. De accipientis fide disputat, qui sine mediatoribus nil dat; qui credita diffamat, urit verecundia debitorem. Ergo, homo, daturus Deo, da secreto; ut quod dederis, non sit oneris, sed honoris. Ob hoc ad te venit tuus ditator in paupere, ut eum non dubites accepta reddere, qui tibi gratis dedit habere quod dares. Quam vero in paupere sit verecunda paupertas, qui largitatis tuae quaerat secretum, aperit ipse, cum dicit: Te autem faciente eleemosynam, nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua. Putas quam vult nescire alterum, qui teipsum qui facis vult aliqua tui parte nescire? Nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua. Sicut sunt nobis in dextera parte virtutes, ita nobis pars vitiorum in sinistra. Ergo ut opus est dexterae quod facit tacitus dator; quod facit dator garrulus, hypocrisis est sinistrae. Hypocrisis, dolus, simulatio, fraus, mendacium, elatio, tumor, jactantia, insistunt nobis, et imminent a sinistris. Quoties ergo nobis cum bonitate, pietate, cum misericordia causa est, nesciat hoc sinistra. Sinistra est quae nobis animarum praelia semper indicit, et ne virtutes in effectum veniant elaborat. Ne sit pietas, impietas agit; ne eleemosyna vincat, cupiditas pugnat: furit avaritia, ne misericordia convalescat; ne innocentia, puritas, simplicitas, sanctitas regnet, hypocrisis sola confligit, quam Christus a nobis tali praedicatione secludit: Te autem faciente eleemosynam, nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua. Fratres, in hoc saeculo fugiamus quae a sinistris sunt, si in futurum a dextris desideramus astare, et audire: Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum, quod vobis paratum est ab origine mundi. Homo, da in terra pauperi, quae tibi manere vis in coelo. Homo, commilita hic pauperi, si vis ibi regnare cum ipso Domino nostro Jesu Christo. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo IX, In Illud Matthaei: Attendite, ne justitiam vestram faciatis coram hominibus Source: Migne PL 52.213b-214c

But when you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they may receive glory from men. Truly I say to you that they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your alms giving might be secret, and then your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 1 He accuses the one who gives for his own hunger for renown, not for the hunger of the poor. He does not judge where you give or when you give, but how you give. God measures deeds according to the heart, not according to the hand, and reckons from the intention not from the place. He wishes mercy to be done before Him alone who alone is the one who rewards and gives witness to mercy, even He who says 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat.' 2 By the poor man He wishes that which is given to be given to Himself, and He who wishes it to be given to Himself wishes to be in debt for what has been given, and He who wishes to be in debt for what has been given wants the giver to lose nothing. God asks for a little and will return much. Therefore, O man, if you give to God in the poor man, you do not have need of men for witnesses. Faith does not need observers. He questions the faith of the recipient who does not give without intermediaries. The one who discloses the loans scorches the debtor with shame. Therefore, O man, what you are going to give to God, give secretly, so that what you give may not be a burden but a matter of honour. Because of this He who enriches you has come to you in the person of the poor man, so that you may not doubt He will return what He has received, He who has freely allowed you to have what you give. But how private is the poverty in the poor man, He who seeks to keep your generosity secret reveals when He says: 'But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.' You see how much He wishes that no one else know, He who wishes that a certain part of yourself not know that you act? 'Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.' As we have virtues on our right side, so too we have a portion of the vices on our left side. Therefore as the work of the right is what the silent giver does, what the noisy giver does is the hypocrisy of the left. Hypocrisy, deceit, pretense, fraud, lying, elation, haughtiness, and boasting beset us and threaten us from the left. Therefore as much as we have cause for goodness, piety, and mercy, do not let the left side know this. The left is what always brings spiritual battles against us and labours so that the virtues do not come into effect. Lest there be piety, impiety acts; lest alms-giving conquer, cupidity fights; avarice rages so that mercy may not grow strong; and so that innocence, purity, simplicity and sanctity may not reign, hypocrisy alone strikes, the hypocrisy that Christ cuts off from us with such a proclamation: 'But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.' Brothers, in this world let us flee from those things that come from the left, if we desire in the future to stand on the right and hear: 'Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world.' 3 O man, while you on earth give to the poor those things that you want to be with you in heaven. O man, be a fellow soldier here with the poor if you want to reign there with Christ. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 9, On 'Take care that you do not perform your righteousness before men' 1 Mt 6.2-4 2 Mt 25.55 3 Mt 25.34