Charity plays a vital role in life of a Christian

“Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)

Brothers and sisters, it is with these words, denoting the wellspring of the truly Christian life, that today’s Gospel ends.

Even in the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord who appeared to the righteous Tobit said, “Alms deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin.” (Tobit 12:9. The Book of Tobit or Book of Tobias is a book of Scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon.)

The New Testament recounts an astonishing tale of the saving power of mercy. In Joppa, there lived a woman called Tabitha, who performed good works and charitable deeds. (Acts 9:36)

When she fell ill and died, her relatives sent to Lydda for St. Peter, who came to the dead woman’s house and saw that all who had known Tabitha were shedding bitter tears. St. Peter knelt down in prayer, and then raised the dead woman to life. (Acts 9:40)

“Such is the strength of charity, said the Orthodox saint, John Chrysostom, “that not only does it cleanse from sin, but it even expels death.”

Each of us brings with him or her into God’s church their sorrows, troubles, ailments, desires and places all before the judgement seat of their maker all their sins. They are secure in the belief that mercy of our Heavenly Father will make up for our waywardness, comfort us in our sorrows and heal our spiritual and physical ills.

But if we ask for God’s mercy, we also must do acts of charity. As St. John Chrysostom teaches us, “By this service our hands are blessed, and if we raise them in prayer after such service, God upon hearing the prayer will be all the more merciful and will grant us what we ask.” To give drink to the thirsty, to feed the hungry, to visit the sick, to receive the stranger, to give good advice, pray for others, comfort the sorrowful, forgive offenses and answer evil with good — to all these things we are called by Christ who gave his life for us and who through his death and life-giving blood has healed and freed mankind from the power of sink, revealing to the world the boundless mercy of our Heavenly father.

Bishop Ignatius Bryanchaninov of the Russian Orthodox Church wrote that divine truth was made manifest in God’s mercy, requiring us to become like God through acts of charity. This likeness makes man or woman, in the words of Jesus Christ, blessed. (Matthew 5:7) They are promised forgiveness, for God loves charity and are always close to him.

The charitable experience spiritual contentment. For charity is first and foremost obedience to God’s will — “for an active obedience to God’s commandment mortifies sin with the sword of the spirit” as the Orthodox saint, St. Maximus the Confessor, writes.

Brothers and sisters, do not wait until you are asked for help; make it your business to note where there is need and sorrow, sadness and despair, and give your help at once. Comfort and encourage others, seeing in them the image of the Divine Teacher who said, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

And turning our inner eye toward the merciful judge of the world, let us raise up the voice of our hearts in prayer — “Lord Jesus Christ, son of the most high, who has brought life to mankind and made manifest to us the ineffable mercy of the Father, help us to be mindful of your commandments and to fulfill them, for obedience to your will is the wellspring of everlasting life.”

This is the season to remember those in need; and the number of needy is growing because of difficult economic times. Don’t turn a blind eye to the plight of the less fortunate, but reach out and help in the ways you can. What you get in return will be more than you give.

XThe Rev. Daniel Rohan is the pastor at St. Mark Orthodox Church, Liberty.