Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni

Homily 6, on wealth; PG 31, 262f (trans. The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, M.F. Toal [ed.])

"It produced fruit a hundredfold"

You have been made a servant of the good God ; an administrator for your fellow servant. Do not imagine that all these fruits were prepared for your own stomach (…) Imitate the earth, O Man, and let you also bear fruit, as it does, so that you may not be lower than the senseless creation. It nourishes its fruits, not for its own delight, but to serve you. And you, whatever fruits of beneficence you do yield, you gather up for yourself; for the grace of good works and their reward is returned to the giver. Have you given something to a person in need; what you have given becomes yours, and is returned to you with an increase. And as the wheat that falls to the earth brings increase to the one who has thrown it there, so the bread that you give to the hungry will later bring you a great gain. Therefore, let the end of your earthly tilling be the beginning of your heavenly sowing. “Sow for yourselves in justice” (Hos 10:12). Why then are you anxious? Why do you torment yourself, striving to shut up riches behind bricks and mortar? “A good name is better than many riches” (Prv 22:1).

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Saturday of the Twenty-fourth week in Ordinary Time

Saint Basil (c.330-379)

"It produced fruit a hundredfold"

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