Wednesday, September 20 : Saint Augustine

Give of your earthly goods and receive eternal ones; give earth and receive heaven. But give to whom?… Hear Scripture telling you how you are to lend to the Lord himself: “He who has compassion on the poor lends to the Lord” (Prv 19,17). God most certainly is in no need of you, but another is in need; what you give to the one is received by another. For the poor has nothing with which to pay you back; he would like to but cannot find anything. The only thing he has is a kindly wish to pray for you. But when a poor man prays for you it is as though he were to say to God: “Lord, I’ve received a loan; be my security.” From then on, if the poor man you do business with is insolvent, he has a sound guarantee, for God says to you: “Give with assurance; I stand surety… It is I who will pay back, I who receive, I to whom you give.”       Do you really believe that God would say to you: “It is I who receive and to me that you give”? Yes indeed, if Christ is God – and of that there is no question. For he said: “I was hungry and you gave me food.” And when asked: “When did we see you hungry?”, wanting to prove that he is indeed surety for the poor he answers on behalf of all his members… declaring, “Whatever you did for the least of my disciples, you have done to me” (Mt 25,34f.).
maronite readings – rosary,team