January 12, 2010 - Tobit 4:6-8,11

You've seen them. So have I. "Will work for food." "Homeless, please help." "Veteran. Help please." How often do you avert your eyes and walk on by? Cross the street maybe. Yeah, me too, sometimes. Often. More often than I like.

But hear the words in the book of Tobit, one of the Apocryphal books found in the Old Testament in Catholic Bibles:

"To all those who practice righteousness, give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. If you have many possessions, make your gift from them in proportion; if few, do not be afraid to give according to the little you have. Indeed, almsgiving, for all who practice it, is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High."

It's so easy to be harsh and judgemental against those who beg. "Get a job," we think, or "They'll just spend it on booze." I've heard them called scam artists, and how these poor old geezers who beg in front of PetSmart actually take home more money in a week than I do in a month.

So, how do we decide who is "worthy" of our help? Do you think of it that way? Is that bum worthy of my help? They're just lazy. They don't want to work. Why should I spend my hard-earned money on some bum who's just going to spend it on drugs? How do we decide who is worthy and who is not? How do we pick who will be the recipient of our beneficience? As though we were so much better than they. After all, we work. We don't drink or do drugs. We have a house, a job, a car.

And yet, under all that is that little bitty fear that raises its ugly head and says, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

For some of us, who are perhaps closer to the bum on the street corner than we would like to admit, it is precisely that fear that stays our hand. If I don't give, it won't be me. If I ignore him, he'll go away, and I won't have to see myself in his face.

So. I would ask. How many of us are "worthy" of God's help? How many of us are spiritual beggars, standing on the streetcorner with our hand out, asking for God's blessing? And if I'm not worthy, and I'm not, then how I dare judge another who is also not worthy?

Does this mean that I give my last penny to every bum I see? No. But I'll tell you how I decide - I ask God. Sometimes I have no problem at all walking on by, and other times, I stop. I help. Now, if someone is hungry, I'm happy to buy them some food. I'm not always real excited about giving money, though if I'm led to, I do that too. If I feel led to give, I give. And if I'm not, I don't. But I know, deep in my heart of hearts, that one day that could be me on the street corner. That could be me under the bridge. That could be me huddled on a cot at a rescue mission. That could be me. That could be you. That could be Christ. "Even as you have done it to the least of these my brethern, you have done it to Me."