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<div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-size:18px;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends,
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> today’s Gospel prescribes the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and
almsgiving. </b></span>I want to speak about the Biblical principle behind
almsgiving. I know I’ve quoted to you before some of the breathtaking
remarks of saints and popes. For example, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Pope Leo XIII said, "Once the
demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest of your money
belongs to the poor." St. John Chrysostom said—and St. Ambrose echoed
him—"For
the man who has two shirts in his closet, one belongs to him; the other
belongs to the man who has no shirt."</b></span> These ideas are, of course, rooted
in the biblical prophets, who continually rail against those who are
indifferent to the poor.</span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Compassion
is key to Christian ethics, learning to suffer with and feel with the
other.</b></span> We’re not dealing with an abstract Aristotelian moral philosophy,
but rather with something more visceral. </span><br><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b><br></b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>This
is precisely why the two great commandments are so tightly linked:</b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>"Love the Lord your God with all your heart…and love your neighbor as
yourself."</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>In loving
God, you feel the feelings of God, and God is compassionate to the poor
and oppressed. That’s all the argument that a biblical person needs.</b></span></span></b></div>
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