Don’t write off the concept of hands-on charity
The wise words of Saint Paul have kick-started married life for many starry-eyed couples. After describing the qualities of love — patient, kind and not quick tempered — he ends chapter 13 in First Corinthians as famously as he began, “So faith, hope, love remain . . . but the greatest of these is love.”
Despite the popularity of these verses, perhaps not all romantics realize that in earlier translations of this quotation the word charity sits in for what we moderns label love.
Love or charity, both interpretations do make sense. Charity is a labor of love. Yet nowadays when we act charitably it’s easy to bleed a lot of the love out of it.
Money necessarily greases the wheels of all of our organized philanthropies. It is a steady influx of currency that enables their good works. And contribute we all should; many of us at levels higher than habit dictates.
But the dry process of cutting a check, stuffing it in an envelope and making note of a deduction for tax purposes doesn’t give rise to feeling all warm inside.
The relationship between love and charity really kicks in when there is no noticeable bureaucracy between us and our beneficiaries.
Lynn, a community college teacher, recently recruited her husband, grown children and close friend to chip in to buy a washer and a dryer for one of her adult students. Struggling with juggling her class load and caring for a family that included a severely handicapped, bed-ridden child, the student was at the point of exhaustion and financial breakdown.
Lynn sat with the woman to review her budget. Each month over $200 and countless hours were spent at the Laundromat. The student was living at subsistence level and lacked the funds for a washing machine at home.
After doing some intra-family fund raising, Lynn priced and purchased the equipment. She then arranged for its installation pleased to make a tangible difference in someone’s life.
Lynn was lucky. Making such a direct impact is not always easy to arrange. Many of us live in universes that are strictly segregated by class. The haves are in one section and the have nots are generally located rather far away. But not easy to arrange doesn’t mean impossible.
Pounding a nail to fix a flapping shutter for an elderly woman, serving a meal to the homeless or playing with a child under treatment in a cancer ward all feel different than throwing money at something.
Opportunities are out there. Sometimes a reference comes from a friend. Piggy-backing on the ideas of the well connected, like the members of a church’s social concerns committee, can yield ideas.
Encouraging a direct approach to charity isn’t meant to discourage writing checks. The two are complementary. There will also be times in life when money is all you can give.
Those engaged in home improvement projects often discover there is something very fulfilling about do-it-yourself. The same holds true for charity.
To fully experience charity as love takes a hands-on approach.
Caroline Calogero can be reached at ccalogero@comcast.net.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law