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Question
Good morning, I ask you to answer these questions of mine about how to behave if I want to follow the words of Jesus. Jesus said we must not refuse to give anyone who asks us for something. (Matthew 5:39). But there are many people who ask for a bribe or ask for money with the intent to corrupt. There are even many beggars who ask for money as a way of life without really needing it and many are the exploiters of our generosity. If I can’t refuse to say NO to someone who asks me for something, then Jesus wants me to give something to a mafia organization that asks me for a bribe or does he want me to give money to the criminal organization that organizes beggars to abuse the generosity of others such as lifestyle? In Matthew 5:42 Jesus teaches us to turn the other cheek. But if a thief enters my house and wants to rape my wife and kill my children why does Jesus want me to do nothing to defend my family?
Thank you.
Marco
Answer
Dear Marco,
1. “Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow” (Mt 5:42).
2. St. Thomas says, “gives those who ask you things that can be given honestly and justly”. Honestly, as a thing may be so necessary that it cannot be given honestly. Rightly, since someone else’s thing cannot be rightly given. So Saint Augustine says, “Give it so that he does not harm either you or anyone else”.
3. St. Thomas says again,” There is a triple gift that we must give, with the heart we can give compassion (from. Is 58.10, “If you bestow your bread to the hungry…”) and St. Gregory, “It is worth more to sympathize with the heart than to give, since whoever sympathizes gives of himself; whoever gives money, gives of others”. With the mouth we can give the consolation of a sweet word (from Sir 18:15, “Like the dew that abates a burning wind, so does a word improve a gif”. With the hand we can give the temporal aid from Dt 15:11, “I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy kinsman in your country”.
4. Subsequently, St. Thomas asks himself if everyone is always obliged to give the temporal subsidy. And he replies by saying that the wealthiest are required to give superfluous things, which in those days were the clerics, while everyone is required to give the necessary things.
5. Regarding resistance to evil, here is his comment on the Gospel passage, “But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other one to him as well “(Mt 5: 39-40). Here we are asked whether not resisting evil is a precept or advice. The injury that here he calls evil is either particular and private, or public. If it is public, then it must be rejected at the command of the necessity “..authority is a servant of God for your good… it is the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer ” (Rom 13: 4). Likewise St. Augustine, “The fortress that defends the homeland from the barbarians, or defends the weak in the house, or the partners from the brigands, is full justice”. And so resisting evil is a precept for subjects, not just for compelling necessity. Or it can be a particular injury, and then the injury can be rejected in three ways: by preventing, like St. Paul, who through the soldiers prevented the injuries of the Jews; by taking up again, as the Lord did with the one who had slapped him (Jn 18:23); and so this is lawful to all, both the perfect and the imperfect; by rejecting for a compelling necessity, as when the injury cannot be avoided either by running away or by some other impediment, and then either it is rejected without weapons, and in this way this is allowed to clerics and laity; by weapons, and so it is not permissible for clerics, although to the laity it is perhaps lawful for a flagrant evil, always with due moderation, as the law says.(Commentary on Matthew 5:39).
6. In this last statement you will find the answer to your question, “But if a thief enters my house and wants to rape my wife and kill my children, why does Jesus want me to do nothing to defend my family?” Therefore Jesus – according to what Saint Thomas teaches – does not want you to suffer passively. He tells you that for this compelling necessity you have to reject violence either without weapons or even with weapons, obviously cum moderamine inculpate tutelae, that is, with the moderation of an innocent defense.
7. In the Summa Theologica he writes, “The obligation to endure unjust actions is to be considered as a disposition of the soul” as St. Augustine, explaining that precept of the Lord, ‘If someone hits you on the cheek, turn him the other too’, that is, in the sense that one must be willing to do so, if necessary. But no one is obliged to always really do it, because not even the Lord did it after receiving a slap in the face, as St. John narrates, he said, ‘Why are you beating me?’ (Jn 18:23). So even with regard to offensive words the same criteria applies. In fact, we are required to have our souls prepared to endure insults when this is required. But in some cases it is necessary to reject the insults, and especially for two reasons: for the sake of those who insult, that is, to repress audacity, so that one does not dare to repeat these acts. In fact, in Proverbs (26.5) we read, ‘Answer the fool according to his folly, so that he may not think he is wise in his eyes’; for the good of other people, whose good is compromised by the insults done to us” (II-II, 72, 3).
I wish you well, I remind you to the Lord and I bless you.
Father Angelo