Family Charity And The Impending Recession

It seems pretty clear that we are heading towards an economic recession, which will affect the lives of Americans and our global neighbors of all social strata. But the most economically vulnerable always take the brunt of such weight. While some of my friends are getting into prepper mode, and others are buying up commodities, I find myself preparing from a less pragmatic angle: how do we serve and become a 'house of respite' as a family with what God has given us when SHTF?

When I read The Cure d'Ars a couple years ago, it was this passage about John Vianney's parents--rather than the saint's later life as a cure, edifying as it was to read of his commitment to the holy priesthood and the salvation of souls--that made an impression on me: 

"Love of the poor was the only rival love that divided his young heart with Jesus and His Blessed Mother. The child was, it is true, in a school where he could scarcely fail to learn to love the poor. Matthew Vianney's house was open to them like a wayside fountain. It was a common thing for as many as twenty poor people to turn in there of a night for food and shelter. In the summer time Matthew housed them in the barn ; but on winter nights he would light a great fire of fagots in the kitchen, set a big pot of potatoes on it, and when they were boiled serve them, and divide the meal between his children and the poor. When the last potato had disappeared he said night prayers aloud, and then conducted his guests to the hayloft, taking care that they were secure from the cold and wind, and as comfortable as his scant accommodation could make them. 

The Christian laborer entertained many an angel unawares, no doubt, amongst these strangers. One cold winter's night there knocked at his door a pilgrim who was destined one day to shine in the calendar of the Church. The traveller who tarries on his way through Dardilly is sure to hear, as of a great glory that lives in the tradition of the village, how, on his way to a neighboring shrine, Benedict Joseph Labre slept one night under the roof of Matthew Vianney." 

St. Benedict immediately gave away his inheritance and set off to be a hermit of the desert, while St. Katherine Drexel used her sizable family wealth in the direct service of the poor. Venerable Aloysius Schwartz had to wrestle with his desire to be a poor missionary priest in the slums of South Korea with God's will that he be used as an administrator to raise millions of dollars through a charitable non-profit to serve the poor there.

Matthew Vianney (the father of St. John Vianney), however, was a poor laborer rather than a man of means, a husband and father rather than a religious. In the wake of the French Revolution, a time of uncertainty and suffering for many in France, he did not stock up on canned beans and guns (well, who knows) and build a bunker, but instead with his wife opened up his humble homes to the poor flocking to the country side and shared the meager spread of their table with those who were hungry. 

This is not the kind of response most of us are accustomed to, especially as Americans. It almost requires a kind of 'reprogramming' to loosen the grips on what we possess materially during times of scarcity. Our natural, base response is typically to hoard and protect, or drop the crusts from our sandwiches of excess. This is not to judge those who (as one example) lived through and were scarred by the effects of the Great Depression. The instinct to survive changes a man in ways he may never know, and he may do things he always said he would never do. 

But it does give us the opportunity as Christians to reflect on the question, "what have I been given, and what am I being called to give in service of God and neighbor during times of great collective need?"

When we reflect on the words of our Lord in scripture, "What merit is it to you to love those who love you? Do not tax collectors do that?" (Mt 5:46) we can apply this admonition to love to our more typical approach of sharing from our excess and thinking we are admirable servants of charity. For the parents of John Vianney, what little they had, they shared in direct service.

I'll admit, it is often easier to cut a check. We have written mortgage payments and utility bills for struggling families (those who often fall through the gap with slightly-higher-than-poverty-level incomes who are not eligible for food stamps and public assistance), and donated to various charitable organizations, but I don't think this is enough. For one thing, it does not model visible, lived charity to our children. That is what struck me about the example of the Vianney's--their home was a "school of charity" which formed the character of the impressionable Jean. As St. Paul says, "be imitators of me" (1 Cor 4:15-16) and gave himself as a model of faith, hope and charity in the flesh. There is a reason students do not become nurses or doctors or teachers through online-only instruction--their profession dictates they learn their field through practicums, clinical rotations, student teaching, etc.--in other words, they need to "see how it's done" in real life. 

There is a part of me that is frugal by nature as a way of padding myself from the uncertainties of life. I take more comfort in a few extra thousand dollars in the bank than an RV or an expensive vacation. I don't mind working hard, and hustling on the side. Part of this is prudential stewardship, and part of it is a less admirable means of control and lack of trust in Divine Providence. I was never modeled charity as a child; my father, though generous with his children, felt that the government's job was to provide for those in need, not his, and that is why he pays taxes. Part of my "unlearning" as an adult Christian is how to truly trust that God will provide for our needs, and that we will be judged on our charity when we die. And that judgement may be harsh.

John Vianney is a model priest of spiritual charity. He spent hours and hours in the confessional and ran himself ragged to save souls. But where did he learn such charity? Maybe his father had something to do with that with his humble example of corporal family charity that addressed need in times of national hardship that gave not from excess, but from his meager allotment as a peasant. 

I get the feeling that we are in for a good world of hurt as a country in the ensuing few years, and who knows how long it will last. There will be no shortage of opportunities to be of service to the Lord, but it may not be by walling ourselves in church exclusively. It may involve the uncomfortable, active charity that the Lord is giving us the opportunity to cultivate as a means of growing in virtue and service. We may have to get creative as well, and think about our particular family circumstances and means in light of the needs of our neighbors. Charity may be hard to practice, but it's not rocket science to learn. The learning comes by doing.

We may even find ourselves on the receiving end of pink slips or economic misfortune. But I don't think even that excuses us from the need to serve. St Peter had no money but healed a crippled man (Acts 3:6). The holy St. John the Baptist told those who wanted to be saved, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do the same” (Lk 3:11). And our Lord put in the simplest terms possible, "And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward" (Mt 10:42). What is more important to us--a life of pleasant leisure, a padded bank account, a weekend boat in the driveway--or our eternal reward which demands we do more than just the minimum?

Perhaps it is a change of perspective as well, the way one may fail to quit an addiction by will-power alone, or through fear of health consequences. Perhaps he needs to see life on the other side not as deprivation from a substance, but of fulfillment through freedom from slavery. 

Likewise, when it comes to charity, God gives us so many daily opportunities to give, to empty ourselves, to grow in virtue, to serve our neighbor, to practice goodwill, to endure suffering and want as means to sanctification. We can be prudent and creative. We can be responsible and charitable. We can find pleasure not in some trivial recreation or object of desire, but in the opportunity to multiply our talents for the good of our neighbor and the advancement of the Kingdom. It is hard to do during unsettling times of national insecurity and economic disruption when the rubber hits the road. But we can have faith that that reward will not be lost in the spiritual economy, even for the smallest act done with love and concern for those most in need of it. God is not a liar. For our part, we must have faith as well that he was not being allegorical, but literal, when it comes the requirements of the discipleship of charity. 

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”