Monday, August 31, 2009
St. John Chrysostom on the poor
...offered by Dn. James Ferrenberg, a sinner at 8:05 AM [+]
from On Living Simply XLIII
Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich
and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich person's gold
and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should we beg the emperor to
impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to the level of the poor
and then to share the proceeds of that tax among everyone? Equality imposed by
force would achieve nothing, and do much harm. Those who combined both cruel
hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of making themselves rich again.
Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away would feel bitter and resentful;
while the poor who received the gold form the hands of soldiers would feel no
gratitude, because no generosity would have prompted the gift. Far from bringing
moral benefit to society, it would actually do moral harm. Material justice
cannot be accomplished by compulsion, a change of heart will not follow. The
only way to achieve true justice is to change people's hearts first--and then
they will joyfully share their wealth.
-St. John Chrysostom
+++
1 comments
1 Comments:
Gee, ya think?
By 
, at
4:28 PM
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