Thursday, January 9, 2014

One angle on Charity


Quarter kilo of dry bhel shared in true Lokshahi (democratic) fashion.


“As the Vatican Almoner, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski explained, charity has to cost you something so it can change you. The Archbishop shared the story of a fellow clergyman who boasted of giving a few euros to a homeless man outside the Vatican, and explained how in spite of the gift, it wasn't genuine charity because the euros cost the cleric relatively nothing.” 
The intent, and practice of charity if we let it will suffuse many aspects of our lives, including through the sharing of knowledge. But, if there is hardly an element of risk, or no costs involved in that act, in the transaction—then there is nothing to it. It is in the giving that we receive, or shall we say we become whole at that moment, and this is but one interstice in the continuum of our being and personhood. But we hardly engage, we avoid risks—being too frightened to contemplate, of course taking into consideration the contexts involved, that our rightful place may truly be at the back of the line. It is better to stay where we belong, instead of making every covert yet aggressive attempt that we belong further along in what we do. Otherwise all that babble about Karma is a mere indulgence. These thoughts came to mind upon being faced with Archbishop Konrad Krajewski’s concise simplification of charity; having indeed encountered it on my journey.


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