Whether Almsgiving Is a Matter of Precept?
Objection 1: It would seem that almsgiving is not a matter of
precept. For the counsels are distinct from the precepts. Now
almsgiving is a matter of counsel, according to Dan. 4:24: "Let my
counsel be acceptable to the King; [Vulg.: 'to thee, and'] redeem
thou thy sins with alms." Therefore almsgiving is not a matter of
precept.
Obj. 2: Further, it is lawful for everyone to use and to keep what is
his own. Yet by keeping it he will not give alms. Therefore it is
lawful not to give alms: and consequently almsgiving is not a matter
of precept.
Obj. 3: Further, whatever is a matter of precept binds the
transgressor at some time or other under pain of mortal sin, because
positive precepts are binding for some fixed time. Therefore, if
almsgiving were a matter of precept, it would be possible to point to
some fixed time when a man would commit a mortal sin unless he gave
an alms. But it does not appear how this can be so, because it can
always be deemed probable that the person in need can be relieved in
some other way, and that what we would spend in almsgiving might be
needful to ourselves either now or in some future time. Therefore it
seems that almsgiving is not a matter of precept.
Obj. 4: Further, every commandment is reducible to the precepts of
the Decalogue. But these precepts contain no reference to almsgiving.
Therefore almsgiving is not a matter of precept.
_On the contrary,_ No man is punished eternally for omitting to do
what is not a matter of precept. But some are punished eternally for
omitting to give alms, as is clear from Matt. 25:41-43. Therefore
almsgiving is a matter of precept.
_I answer that,_ As love of our neighbor is a matter of precept,
whatever is a necessary condition to the love of our neighbor is a
matter of precept also. Now the love of our neighbor requires that
not only should we be our neighbor's well-wishers, but also his
well-doers, according to 1 John 3:18: "Let us not love in word, nor
in tongue, but in deed, and in truth." And in order to be a person's
well-wisher and well-doer, we ought to succor his needs: this is done
by almsgiving. Therefore almsgiving is a matter of precept.
Since, however, precepts are about acts of virtue, it follows that
all almsgiving must be a matter of precept, in so far as it is
necessary to virtue, namely, in so far as it is demanded by right
reason. Now right reason demands that we should take into
consideration something on the part of the giver, and something on
the part of the recipient. On the part of the giver, it must be noted
that he should give of his surplus, according to Luke 11:41: "That
which remaineth, give alms." This surplus is to be taken in reference
not only to himself, so as to denote what is unnecessary to the
individual, but also in reference to those of whom he has charge (in
which case we have the expression "necessary to the person" [*The
official necessities of a person in position] taking the word
"person" as expressive of dignity). Because each one must first of
all look after himself and then after those over whom he has charge,
and afterwards with what remains relieve the needs of others. Thus
nature first, by its nutritive power, takes what it requires for the
upkeep of one's own body, and afterwards yields the residue for the
formation of another by the power of generation.
On the part of the recipient it is requisite that he should be in
need, else there would be no reason for giving him alms: yet since it
is not possible for one individual to relieve the needs of all, we
are not bound to relieve all who are in need, but only those who
could not be succored if we not did succor them. For in such cases
the words of Ambrose apply, "Feed him that dies of hunger: if thou
hast not fed him, thou hast slain him" [*Cf. Canon _Pasce,_ dist.
lxxxvi, whence the words, as quoted, are taken]. Accordingly we are
bound to give alms of our surplus, as also to give alms to one whose
need is extreme: otherwise almsgiving, like any other greater good,
is a matter of counsel.
Reply Obj. 1: Daniel spoke to a king who was not subject to God's
Law, wherefore such things as were prescribed by the Law which he did
not profess, had to be counselled to him. Or he may have been
speaking in reference to a case in which almsgiving was not a matter
of precept.
Reply Obj. 2: The temporal goods which God grants us, are ours as to
the ownership, but as to the use of them, they belong not to us alone
but also to such others as we are able to succor out of what we have
over and above our needs. Hence Basil says [*Hom. super Luc. xii,
18]: "If you acknowledge them," viz. your temporal goods, "as coming
from God, is He unjust because He apportions them unequally? Why are
you rich while another is poor, unless it be that you may have the
merit of a good stewardship, and he the reward of patience? It is the
hungry man's bread that you withhold, the naked man's cloak that you
have stored away, the shoe of the barefoot that you have left to rot,
the money of the needy that you have buried underground: and so you
injure as many as you might help." Ambrose expresses himself in the
same way.
Reply Obj. 3: There is a time when we sin mortally if we omit to give
alms; on the part of the recipient when we see that his need is
evident and urgent, and that he is not likely to be succored
otherwise--on the part of the giver, when he has superfluous goods,
which he does not need for the time being, as far as he can judge
with probability. Nor need he consider every case that may possibly
occur in the future, for this would be to think about the morrow,
which Our Lord forbade us to do (Matt. 6:34), but he should judge
what is superfluous and what necessary, according as things probably
and generally occur.
Reply Obj. 4: All succor given to our neighbor is reduced to the
precept about honoring our parents. For thus does the Apostle
interpret it (1 Tim. 4:8) where he says: "Dutifulness* [Douay:
'Godliness'] is profitable to all things, having promise of the life
that now is, and of that which is to come," and he says this because
the precept about honoring our parents contains the promise, "that
thou mayest be longlived upon the land" (Ex. 20:12): and dutifulness
comprises all kinds of almsgiving. [*_Pietas,_ whence our English
word "Piety." Cf. also inf. Q. 101, A. 2.]
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