Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 413

For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods,
the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,
who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;
who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,
and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.
So you too must befriend the alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

I have heard this passage from the Book of Deuteronomy satirized by Frank Morgan in The Wizard of Oz so many times I have a hard time hearing it as a most solemn and wonderful reading at Mass. The Sacred Author stretches language to the breaking point, where it is most vulnerable, to impress upon the congregation the majesty and goodness of God. But we Americans really, really hate loud, boastful rulers and this passage from Deuteronomy almost smacks of pomposity.

In Edith Wharton’s novel The House of Mirth, the protagonist Lily Bart is a good-natured, clueless and under-funded debutante caught in the fatal whirlpool of 19th century, New York society. She cannot keep up with her spend-thrift friends but, on one occasion, she gives alms to a penniless girl. 

As her inevitable doom closes upon her, Lily re-encounters the poor young woman, now happily married to a scrappy young fellow with a healthy baby between them. With that simple act of charity the girl was delivered from a grave financial problem. Her life suddenly leveled out and things were looking up. 

Lily, of course, only vaguely remembers the incident. It was only a single instance of generosity, a scrap from the table of the entitled. It was not a religious act and it meant nothing to Lily. 

As I pondered this passage from Deuteronomy, Edith Wharton's novel came back to me. We should give to the less fortunate (as Lily did), but almsgiving without reference to God’s goodness is misbegotten. It may do some good for the recipient. (The author made certain that happened in her fiction.) But Lily's "charity" did not come from a deep resource of faith. Nor did it express the courage, confidence and gratitude of those with deep roots in God’s providence. (In fact there is, in the novel, another woman who is the 19th century forerunner of our "bleeding heart liberal." She continually hectors her wealthy friends to support her charities, but the other women regard her efforts as only a peculiar hobby.)  

To know our God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, we must give not as Lily gives, but as the Lord has given to us. Not from our superabundance but from our means. Not with condescension but with genuine joy, gratitude and affection. There must be a kind of emptying, as when Jesus surrendered his life for us without stint or hesitation. Saint John's Gospel reminds us of his total gift of self when the soldier stabs his corpse and blood and water flow out. He has poured out everything: blood, water and spirit. 

Saint Paul, in his Second Letter to the Corinthians will encourage his disciples to give so that there is a kind of equality among all Christians. 

your surplus at the present time should supply their needs, so that their surplus may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. 

In that kind of unguarded generosity we will hear the voice of God: 

For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods,
the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.So you too must befriend the alien,for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.