Vigils Reading – 18th Week

THE GENEROUS INVITATION

From a commentary by St Basil the Great

◊◊◊

“The land of a rich man produced abundant harvests, and he thought to

himself: What am I to do? I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones.”

Now why did that land bear so well, when it belonged to a man who would

make no good use of its fertility? It was to show more clearly the forbearance of

God, whose kindness extends even to such people as this. He sends rain on both

the just and unjust, and makes the sun rise on the wicked and the good alike.

But what do we find in this man? A bitter disposition, hatred of other

people, unwillingness to give. This is the return he made to his Benefactor. He

forgot that we all share the same nature; he felt no obligation to distribute his

surplus to the needy. His barns were full to the bursting point, but still his

miserly heart was not satisfied. Year by year he increased his wealth, always

adding new crops to the old. The result was a hopeless impasse: greed would not

permit him to part with anything he possessed, and yet because he had so much

there was no place to store his latest harvest. And so he is incapable of making a

decision and could not escape from his anxiety. What am I to do?

Who would not pity a man so oppressed? His land yields him no profit but

only sighs: it brings him no rich returns, but only cares and distress and a

terrible helplessness. He laments in the same way as the poor do. Is not his cry

like that of one hard pressed by poverty? What am I to do? How can I find food

and clothing?

You who have wealth, recognize who has given you the gifts you have

received. Consider yourself, who you are, what has been committed to your

charge, from whom have you received it, why have you been preferred to most

other people? You are the servant of the good God, a steward on behalf of your

fellow servants. Do not imagine that everything has been provided for your own

stomach. Take decisions regarding your property as though it belonged to

another. Possessions give you pleasure for a short time, but then they will slip

through your fingers and be gone, and you will be required to give an exact

account of them.

What am I to do? It would have been so easy to say: “I will feed the

hungry, I will open my barns and call in all the poor…proclaiming good will

toward everyone.” I will offer the generous invitation: “Let anyone who lacks

bread come… You shall share, each according to need, in the good things God

has given, just as though you were drawing from a common well.”