Have faith? Help the poor
At the time of writing this column, practically the whole of North India is reeling under severe cold wave. One finds a lot of people still on the streets. Extreme climates do affect people’s lives and people die of extreme cold, heat and floods too.
Today, it might be worth reflecting on our responsibility to help the homeless, especially those large numbers of us who have deep faith in God and who show up at churches, temples, mosques and gurdwaras regularly.
Prophet Isaiah tells us, “Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help” (Isaiah 58:7). Similarly, St. James exhorts his readers, “What does it profit, my brethren if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (James 2: 13-18). Again the Gospel urges us, “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you” (Luke 14: 13).
Swami Ramakrishna, founder of the Ramakrishna Mission, while preaching to his devotees, which changed the life of one of them and who later became Swami Vivekananda, said, “Compassion for living beings? Fool! Who are you, an insignificant creature, to show compassion? No, no! Not compassion, but service to all beings, looking upon them as God Himself!”
In the Quran we find “And they give food, in spite of their love for it (or for the love of Him), to the miskeen (needy), the orphan, and the captive saying, ‘We feed you seeking Allah’s countenance only. We wish for no reward nor thanks from you” (Al-Dahar: 8-9).
Sikhism too has an elaborate guideline for the service to the needy, langar, being only one of its brilliant expressions.
Each of our religions has absolutely great teachings on serving the poor and the needy. Being faithful to our own scriptures would help us immensely to assist in alleviating the sufferings of many of our brothers and sisters.
Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder-member of Parliament of Religions, is currently the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church. He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com
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