Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8
“We must, then, open the doors to all the poor and all those who are victims of disasters, whatever the causes may be, since we have been told to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. And since we are human beings, we must pay our debt of goodness to our fellow human beings, whatever the cause of their plight: orphanhood, exile, cruelty of the master, rashness of those who govern, inhumanity of tax-collectors, brutality of blood-thirsty bandits, greediness of thieves, confiscation, or shipwreck.”
Gregory of Nazianzus in On the Love for the Poor in Social Thought, ed. Peter C. Phan, Message of the Fathers of the Church, vol. 20 (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier) 6.
As I stated yesterday, I’ve have tabled research for the foreseeable future and shifted to researching quotes from saints through the centuries on generosity. Since I stood in the room (Hagia Irene, pictured above) where the first Council of Constantinople added five articles to the Nicene Creed in A.D. 381, it got me thinking.
I decided to research who was in the room and review any extant writings from Council participants. This led me to explore Gregory of Nazianzus. He was there, and he gives us the next few posts. Today he inspires us to consider our “debt of goodness to our fellow human beings.”
The line that struck me was “whatever the cost of their plight.” As times have not changed, and our world seems to be crumbling around us, let us resolve to consider who we can help and how we might help them. Message me if you want to pay your debt to goodness and support GTP efforts serving workers in the hardest places.