Vigils Reading – 18th Week
THE GENEROUS INVITATION
From a commentary by St Basil the Great
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“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.”