The Greatest Of These Is Mercy (Almsgiving)

Most Rev. (Dr) G. G. Dunia

God our father, in his infinite love and goodness has shown us in the scripture and through the fathers of the Church that: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving are remedies for our sins particularly and sin in general (cf. conclusion to evening prayer one week three of lent in the Divine Office, Volume two and Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) number 1434).
These three religious practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, amongst many and various others, express interior penance of the Christian. By interior penance we mean the spiritual change of heart which enables the sinner to turn away from sin and further urges him to return to God whole-heartedly.
Penance as a virtue, that is, a good Habit of the intellect or will, enables the human beings to acknowledge their sins with true contrition and a firm purpose of amendment. It generates and establishes an unreserved confidence in God for his mercy and forgiveness which confidence is traditionally fundamental to the Christian virtue of penance.
According to Saint Peter Chrysologus the three religious practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as forms of penance, are a unit. The reason is that they give life to one another. Hence, fasting gives soul to prayer, while mercy (almsgiving) gives life to fasting. On this understanding no one should tear them apart in as much as they are inseparable. In order to achieve a qualitatively acceptable penance a person must possess these three forms of penance simultaneously, otherwise if a person possesses only one of them, or fails to possess all the three simultaneously, he possesses nothing, at all.
To possess true penance, he who prays must also fast; he who fasts must also give (show mercy) alms.
The inseparable or unit necessity of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is comparable to the conditions necessary for the germination of the seed: warmth, air and water. Prayer is comparable to warmth (warm soil), fasting is comparable to air; almsgiving (mercy) is comparable to water. All three are necessary for the germination of penance. Fasting like air makes warmth (prayer) healthy, while almsgiving (mercy) like water, gives wetness to fasting from which true penance (life) results (germinates). Even though all the three forms of penance are equally necessary, without almsgiving (mercy) after all said and done: warmth (prayer) and air (fasting) that are already put in place suffer dryness and drought respectively, consequent upon which there will be no germination, no life. In this understanding, it can be said that the greatest of these three is MERCY, which is almsgiving. Hence, Cervantes holds that: “among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliancy than justice”. In fact, “mercy is the fulfilment of justice, not its abolition” (St. Thomas Aquinas). “Mercy is a greater thing than right” (Chaucer). “Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan” (St. John Chrysostom).
So, let everyone pray with humility for the humble man's prayer pieces the skies. (cf. Ps 34:6). Fast if you are neither below nor above the ages and conditions of fasting. Give alms from all you genuinely possesses, because giving inordinately whereby injustice is done to others, such as wife, children, dependent parents is a violation of mercy.
We are to give alms according to our means. “If thou have much, give abundantly, if thou have little, take care…willingly to bestow a little” (Tob. 4:9).
In any case, mercy can always overuled, hence, the greatest of these is mercy (almsgiving).