Today’s society has made the dreadful mistake of lack of charity. Facts are bent or ignored, especially in today’s world where reality has been skewed by misinformation, disinformation, and A.I. Some think the laws of physics are negotiable, and there is a huge trend toward everyone’s feelings. I am going to rewind the time back to the 400’s and The Rule of St. Benedict. He was the founder of western monasticism and wrote a then text, now book, advising religious how to live in monasteries. We are going to refer to this ancient text and apply it to today, even though some of you may consider the source old, outdated or “I’m not a monk”. The advice still applies to today’s world regardless of your station in life. Chapter 4, verses 25-26 of The Rule of St. Benedict reads:
“Never give a hollow greeting of peace or turn away when someone needs your love.”
(RSB 4:25-26)
How many times have you asked, “How are you?” to someone and not really cared? Did you want them to actually answer the question? This has become a reflex phrase that is overused in our world. Are you really concerned or is it a hollow greeting that has just become a knee jerk line for you? Think about it for a moment. A challenge to say the least. The phrase bolded above is asked of us not just by St. Benedict, but by his holy example, and hopefully, ours, Jesus Christ. (Matt. 22:39).
A different consideration about love is how are we to tell if someone is sincere in their need, or, just out to hustle us? After all, we do not wish to become poor stewards of whatever we are provided down here for our time on Earth, right? The homeless person you see on the street with whatever sign they are holding. Folks may ask themselves “If I give that homeless person money are they going to buy drugs or booze with it?” St. Mother Teresa said “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is there that your strength lies.” I usually carry water or food with me in the car. If a homeless person is truly in need, give them food or water, that way you won’t have to guess what they may or may not do with the money you give them. Many times, a love offering is a simple cup of coffee. If the person gets mad at you and refuses the food or water, you have your answer that they were probably trying to hustle you.
How many charitable organizations really aren’t charitable? There are grants out there, you can get funding, right? It has been the general experience in Chaffee County over the past five years that you get funding only if you have the desired political alignment and do not reveal your group is Christian, patriotic, pro-American, etc. It’s rather disgusting, actually, as we live in America, you know, “One nation under God”, or at least that was the Founding Fathers’ intent…
The word love, as referenced above, refers to charity, not any other definition. One of my favorite charitable acts is praying with others, whether it be the rosary or a prayer for a group, as there is something transcendent about prayer in choir. If you are trying to discern a genuine soul in need of God’s love through you, from a hustler out to take advantage of good Christian charity, simply ask them to pray with you. Usually, not always, a hustler will see prayer as a sign of weakness, while the one in need will willingly pray with you. I write “not always” as there are some who use any form of manipulation. Those folks need prayer the most, but that is for a different article. Some of you are saying “what about this pastor who did this?”; “what about this priest who did that?”. The fact is that all humans are fallible. Some are psychopaths, others, drunk on power, prestige, ego, money…the list goes on. So, does that give you the out never to be charitable? I don’t think so, however that’s where our society is, presently.
Too many people are emotionally charged and make bad decisions because of those emotions. Too many folks think that physics and biology can be “changed” because they feel it can. Well, that’s just flat wrong. Men cannot have babies, no matter who tells you they can. I am not attempting to upset you here, these are just biological facts. If you are getting upset, check your logic switch, as that is probably “off”. Women who chemically and physically alter their appearance to look like men are still women. Period. Full Stop. I happen to know a person born a woman who has altered her appearance and changed her name to a masculine one. She injects male hormones and has had surgery that removed her breasts. She has a beard. I am confident that if male semen was introduced to her existing vaginal tract that she would conceive a child, as she is still a woman, irrespective of her appearance. Again, facts, not feelings.
St. Alphonsus di Ligouri is credited with saying “To love is to correct.” We have stepped away from this aspect of charity in our society as well as a result of feelings. Facts are not changeable, as they are facts. Steel has structure because of its chemical composition of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, etc. It does not have structure based on your feelings, puppies, rainbows, or unicorn chunks contained therein. I use this example just to illustrate the point. Of course, there are no unicorn chunks in the steel of your home, even if you “feel that there are”, the answer is still “nope.”
I don’t know how we got here, but, we need to take the advice of St. Benedict from back in the 400’s and return to charity. Being charitable means being factual and sometimes that doesn’t mean you will feel good. We need to correct the course and trajectory, otherwise, we may reach a point where the country will not be able to recover. That will definitely not feel good.
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