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Handout #81 |
Basil of Caesarea (330-379 A.D.) |
| Homily for a time of
famine and drought
The torments of the famished, the pangs of hunger, are indeed an evil to be pitied. Of human ills hunger is the chief, and of deaths it is the most painful ... Hunger is slow torture, prolonged pain, an evil hovering and ever-present, a death which is always there and yet always delayed ... The body becomes livid as a result of the pallor and blackness which accompany this affliction ... The eyes become withdrawn into the head, loose in their sockets like dried nuts in their shells. The belly is empty, contracted, formless, without substance; the intestines no longer have their normal tension, and the bones are stuck to the back. What punishment is too much for anyone who passes by such a body with indifference? Can he rise to any greater cruelty? Is he not worthy to be counted among the most inhuman of beasts, of being regarded as a criminal and a homicide? Yes, anyone who has the power to succour this evil and deliberately, through avarice, postpones doing so, is fully worthy of being condemned as a murderer. Are you poor? There are others poorer than you are. Have you two days' provisions? They have only one. Be good and gracious, and share what you have with the needy. Do not hesitate to give away the little that you have; do not put your personal interest above the common danger. Even if your food is reduced to one loaf if there is a beggar at the door, take this loaf out of your larder, hold it up to heaven in your hands and say these sad but generous words. Lord the loaf which you see is my last and danger is imminent; but I am remembering your command and am giving of the little that I have to my brother who is hungry. Do you give also to your servant who is in peril. I know your goodness, and I trust in your power. Do not delay your goodness for long, but if it seems good to you, bestow on us your gifts. If you speak and act like this, this bread which you have given in your need will be the seed of a harvest, it will produce abundant fruit and will be the pledge of your food, having been the ambassador of mercy. Basil of Caesarea, Homily for a Time of Famine. |
