The Liberal - and Conservative - Heresy

Gospel: Matthew 7: 7-12

The great heresy is the utter rejection of charity, the foundation of Christian life.   On the one side, it is stated that charity is denigrating to the poor and ignores justice which is what the poor need.  But in looking at this understanding of charity, we find that it is not even charity at all that is being described.  It is, in fact, justice.

When you give away your excess clothes or food or money to a non-profit, that is not charity.  That is justice.  You have far more than you need and you are only giving to the poor what they ought to have in justice, and you are giving away what you ought not to have in these excesses.  To give these things is simply living the Golden Rule.  If we were poor we would want those with excess to give what they ought not to have so that I who lack what I ought to have can receive what I need.  

By the same token, many believe charity is some sort of extra item that is not required of us.  It is a nice thing to do, but since it is not justice I am not obligated to do it.  If I perform charity I'm a hero.  But as noted above, the charity that is imagined is not charity at all. It is justice, and it is required of us both in the ethical life and in what Jesus commands us to do.  If the government collects taxes and uses some of it for the help of the poor, that is not coerced charity.  It is justice pure and simple, a core obligation of the role of government.

Charity, however, is a far greater thing than justice.  It is the complete self-giving of oneself for the sake of others.  It is to forgive another, to die for another as Jesus did for us.  It cannot be compelled; it must be freely given.  But it is the essence of being a Christian, a requirement for our life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus.  

So, when a "faith-based community organizer" or "faithful Catholic libertarian" denigrates charity in these ways, they are in reality first of all rejecting justice which they claim to uphold, and they reject the very foundation of the Christian life.  Both are far afield from the path of Jesus.  

It is our task this Lent and each day in our lives to imitate the Lord Jesus alone - to be just in all our dealings, and to strive more and more each day to live the charity to which he calls us, to love more deeply and widely than we were previously.