We have heard, brethren, when the Gospel was being read, a terrible voice, and a sentence of our Lord equally to be feared and to be desired. It is terrible because of that which he says: Depart from me, you cursed; it is to be desired because of that which he says: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom (Matt. XXV). For who, having heard this voice, would not both tremble and rejoice at the same time? For Christ promises a kingdom to his servants, and threatens eternal fire to sinners. I beg you, most beloved brethren, that you hear this reading with attentive heart, and retain it in memory.
For whoever attends to this reading with diligent mind, even if he understands the rest of the Scriptures not at all, this reading alone can suffice for doing every good work and for fleeing every evil work. Attend, brethren, to what the Lord promised to say to those who shall be at his right hand: Come, blessed, for I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. But to those who shall be at the left, he is about to say: Depart from me, you cursed, for I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat, and so forth. He did not say: Depart from me, because you committed theft or murder, and other evils; but he said, because from your substance you did not give to the poor.
Just as mercy alone will free those who shall be at the right hand, so avarice alone will condemn those who are at the left. Not for this reason are they to hear 'Come, blessed,' because they did not sin, nor is he about to say to them, 'Depart from me, cursed,' because they sinned; but because you were unwilling to redeem your sins by almsgiving. No one can be without sin, but every man, with God's help, can redeem his sins by almsgiving. For the Lord says: He who has not fed the hungry, and has not clothed the naked, shall be sent into eternal fire. And if he is condemned with the devil who has not given to the poor, where is he to be condemned who has taken what belongs to another?
If he is damned in hell who has not received the stranger into his house, where is he to be damned who casts him out of doors? If he is sent into the fire who has not clothed the naked, where is he to be damned who has stripped the clothed? Hold fast, brethren, to almsgiving and mercy, because almsgiving does not suffer its worker to go into darkness. For as the prophet Daniel says: My counsel, O king, redeem your sins by almsgiving; and if you neglect it, in vain will you knock at heaven (Dan. IV). O soul, who dwell within fleshly and fragile walls, watch, pray, knock, and seek (Matt. XXIV). Watch by asking, pray by seeking, knock by bestowing. To you watching and asking the Lord says: Behold, I am here;
and if you pass through the fire, I am with you, and the flame shall not burn you. Whom if you seek by praying, you will find. When you knock by bestowing, Christ opens to you his gates, that you may enter as a possessor of paradise. And if you still think this remains to be at the end of the world, consider rather your own end. For little by little all the good things that were are withdrawn, and the evils that were not draw near. For it is written: Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked I shall go beneath the earth (Job I). Therefore give alms, while you have the price in your hands. Give to yourself from your own, because what you hold is fleeting and always foreign. Consider your price, look upon your Lord. Consider what a price he gave for you, he shed his blood for you:
he held you dear, whom he redeemed so dearly. Flee the example of the rich man whose dogs Lazarus fed with his own wounds, and the rich man did not live. Those whom the nature of the flesh had made alike, riches made unlike, yet in death they were made equal, and among those below their fortunes were changed. Then said the rich man: Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Abraham said: Son, remember that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise evil things; here he is comforted, but you are tormented (Luke XVI). O man, you hear a just comparison of the sentence, because he has no refreshment who has not given to the poor. My brethren, formed in the hand of God, hear the voice of the Lord, fulfill his desire, that you may receive an inheritance in the kingdom of your Father. For from a servant you have been made a friend.
Despise that you were condemned, look upon that you were reborn. Make for yourself a craftsman against earthly patrimony; God offers heaven. Then the Father and Lord and Friend will say to you, when you have made the heavenly commerce: Amen I say to you, what you have done to these least, you have done to me (Matt. XXV). What I receive, I now repay a hundredfold, nay, a thousand times a hundredfold, and in the future eternal life, as I promised through John, a feast of a thousand years, and a kingdom at the right hand of the Father. Therefore I beg you, brethren, that each one, as much as he is able, may hold out to the stranger with a good spirit. Hear the Lord in the Gospel (Luke XXI) speaking of the widow who offered two coins, who sent in more than all:
because the rest were rich, and gave from that which abounded to them; but she offered all that she had; and therefore she merited that the Lord should praise her with his own mouth. Therefore let each one do what he is able: except for reasonable food and clothing, whatever is left over, let him, glad and cheerful, bestow upon the poor. Why glad? Because he gives little and receives much. He holds out a coin, and purchases a kingdom. He bestows a small sum, and will receive eternal life: he gives temporal things, that he may merit eternal things. He holds out fleeting things, and receives things that will abide without end. And if a faithful man said to you: Give me one copper coin, and I will repay you a hundred gold solidi? would you not with joy give one, that you may receive a hundred?
how much the more, because the Lord says to you, Whoever gives to the poor lends to God (Prov. XIX)! Give therefore to God on earth, that you may receive in eternal life; that when you come into the sight of the angels before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, with secure and free conscience you may be able to say: Give, O Lord, because I have given; show mercy, because I have shown it. I have fulfilled what you commanded; do you render what you promised. And there may you deserve to hear: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.