The holy solemnities, dearly beloved, having been celebrated in their order, and the devotion of spiritual gladness having been fulfilled, it behooves us to have recourse to the wholesomeness of frugality, and to apply the remedy of fasting both for exercising our minds and for chastising our bodies: so that, since both the divine admonitions and our own experiences have sufficiently taught us of this, we may first render thanks to the divine goodness for the return of these most sacred days, and then, seeking the holy delights of continence, withdraw somewhat for ourselves from the abundance of earthly foods: so that what is not spent upon the table may profit in alms. For the medicine of fasting then at last profits the healing of the soul, when the abstinence of the one fasting refreshes the hunger of the needy.
Since therefore we know that with the merciful God the largeness of almsgiving surpasses fasts, the Lord himself saying: 'Give alms, and behold, all things are clean unto you' (Luke 11:41): if we desire our souls to be cleansed from the filth of sins, let us not deny alms to the poor, so that on the day of retribution, to obtain God's mercy, we may be aided by works of mercy, through Christ our Lord. Amen.