But as to what is within, give alms

Rm 1,16-25; Ps 18; Lk 11,37-41
15 OCTOBER

When the heart is greedy for the things of this world, greed is always added to the evilness and wickedness of the heart. Everything is subverted by greed: law, justice, worship, commandments, the entire law of the Lord and revelation itself. The Lord God warns man so that he always keeps far from this incurable evil that makes man ever more ravenous and voracious. Nothing is ever enough for the greedy. He wants everything.

He said to the people: “Do not be greedy for the plunder, for there is a fight ahead of us (1Mac 4, 17). Their greed was not yet satisfied, they still had food in their mouths (Ps 77, 30). He who is greedy of gain brings ruin on his own house, but he who hates bribes will live (Pr 15, 27) The greedy man stirs up disputes, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper (Pr 28, 25). They are relentless dogs, they know not when they have enough. These are the shepherds who know no discretion; Each of them goes his own way, every one of them to his own gain (Is 56, 11). They feed on the sin of my people, and are greedy for their guilt (Hos 4, 8). They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and they take them; They cheat an owner of his house, a man of his inheritance (Mi 2, 2). Woe to him who pursues evil gain for his household, setting his nest on high to escape the reach of misfortune! (Hab 2, 9). They have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess (Eph 4, 19). Similarly, deacons must be dignified, not deceitful, not addicted to drink, not greedy for sordid gain (Eph 4, 19). Similarly, deacons must be dignified, not deceitful, not addicted to drink, not greedy for sordid gain (1Tm 3, 8). For a bishop as God’s steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain (Tt 1, 7).

When greed rules the heart, the eyes are incapable of true discernment and the mouth is devoid of all wisdom and intelligence. If the heart is false, the eye is false, the ear is false, the mouth is false, the mind is false and judgments are false. Jesus is invited to lunch. He omits the ritual ablutions. They are not commanded by any law of his Father. The Pharisee who invited him is amazed. It is a real scandal to him. A Master in Israel omits the essential rules of life. Jesus takes the floor and with the purest truth tells the Pharisee what he must wonder and be scandalized about. You Pharisees clean the glass and plate outside. The exterior of the glass and of the plate is the skin of man. But if you go down a millimetre under the skin you find that there is no flesh, but greed and malice. Jesus did not come to teach man how to clean his skin, but to reveal that under the skin there is no flesh, but greed and rottenness, and to give grace and the Holy Spirit so that the flesh can return to its place. Without grace and the Holy Spirit they will continue to cleanse the skin, while the inside is full of sin. Jesus came to fulfil the promise made by the Father through the prophet Ezekiel. He will have to take away the heart of stone and put in its place a heart of flesh capable of loving. If the heart is of flesh, the eyes will also be of flesh, together with the mind. Everything will be seen by the Holy Spirit and not by sin, by wickedness, by evilness, by rottenness and by foolishness.

After he had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.

But today there is already a way so that flesh comes back under the skin. This way is indicated, but without conversion it is impossible to follow it. It is the way of almsgiving. Let what has been the object and fruit of greed, be given in alms, let good works be done with it, and little by little the flesh will begin to appear under the skin. Even the heart will gradually become of flesh and it will begin to love. With the heart of flesh the eyes will begin to see according to God and then we will realize that not doing the ablutions is really an innocent and blameless thing. The Holy Scripture has always indicated almsgiving as a remedy for the evil that devours the man inside him. The ever usual way.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, free the Christian from all wickedness, greed and evilness.