The answer
St. Augustine says, “Let us not, then, spurn our God when he is needy in the poor, so that we in our need may be satisfied by him in his riches. We have needy people, and we are needy ourselves; so let us give, in order to receive. But now, what is it that we do give? And in exchange for this paltry, visible, temporal and earthly whatever it is, what is it that we desire to receive? What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it come up into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9).”1141
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
1141 St. Augustine of Hippo, The Works of St Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century: Part III— Sermons; Volume VI: Sermons 184–229Z, trans., Edmund Hill, ed., John E. Rotelle (New City Press, 1993) 206.2: p. 107.