Beneficence's Bag

James Russell Lowell, in his work Sir Launfal's Vision tells the story of the young and ambitious Sir Launfal, dressed in his shinny armor and wearing luxurious clothing, who leaves his castle to look for the Holy Grail, taking in his banner the cross, the symbol of the benignancy and the tenderness and humble of Christ, but in the heart, the pride and disdain to the poor person and to the needed one.

Find a leper, and disdainfully he throws a gold coin to him, like giving a bone to a hungry animal.

The leper raised not the gold from the dust: "Better to me the poor man's crust, better the blessing of the poor, though I turn me empty from his door; that is no true alms which the hand can hold; he gives nothing but worthless gold. Who gives from a sense of duty; but he who gives a slender mite, and gives to that which is out of sight, the hand cannot grab the whole of his alms".

This story of the XIX Century's North American writer can be understood in a first moment as a poetical description of what charity means, and of the notion of beneficence that every person for his condition of human must have as a part of himself.

However represents, beyond this, that giving supposes not a generosity act, sacrifice or obligation, but on the contrary, a completely voluntary behavior that implies a way of living, feeling and coexist.

The beneficence's bag is circulated in our works, whose destination is the charity and assistance to those who brothers who needs material resources to subsist or are in a hurry to fill a immediate necessity; however this act -that can also be found in other ceremonies, like the Catholic mass- shall constitute far beyond the exterior act of introduce the alms, a tiny and private act of reflection that could leads us to recall that, above all other facts, beneficence must be practice during each act of our existences, not as a duty, like the rules we have to obey as part of one community, such as in transit, etiquette or the property rights, but on a different basis, and answering to previous and much more intrinsic causes to our being, giving must be part of the standards that originates and becomes consequences of our own welfare, peace and happiness, because it is, under any exterior shape or definition, a common goal for us to achieve.

Under this ideas, the circulation of the beneficence's bag represents the possibility to the brother, that reunited around his mother lodge can make the idea of the help to the most needed a concrete fact. Furthermore this is the symbolic representation of what a Mason faces in his common life when he has to interact with his fellowmen, taking into account that in each relationship, he has the power to decide among taking care the others the needs or to remain indolent about it.

Another two aspects related to this subject has something -or everything- to do with the piece of bread given to the poor and the beautiful fact that true alms are not the ones that can be taken only with the hand.

How easy is to give away those things that one felt unnecessary or dispensable, but how hard is to renounce to everything that is consider desirable -from any point of view- for our present or future welfare. Being that so, it will be wrong to understand that providing what we have in abundance doesn't represent a beneficence or generosity act, but instead of that it means that in the process of giving, it is a must to have as a starting point the need of the other person and as the end of the road the knowledge of our strengths and resources to accomplish it, and not the opposite.

Under the present view there will be times when other people's needs can be fulfilled with just a smile, however the important thing is to posses a persistent attitude to recognize that as sons of the Lord, we are lead by a common mission, and only as it is achieved by each and everyone, the individual road will come to its end.

On the other hand, popular wisdom says that "it's better to teach how to catch the fish instead of just giving it to the hungry", which means -among other things- that generosity lives whenever you let other persons, with whom we share our existence, be the best they can be within their personal gifts and circumstances. This represent a lesson to be learned that any given time is the best to give, and that "being a mason" and "being human" implies not only the duty to give a helping hand to a person in need, but above all this, to be convinced that is not our goods or assets but our time, the most important thing to give.

March 10, 2003

Q:. H:. Miguel de Pomar