“Almagiving”

“Tap! Tap! Tap!” A child appeared behind the slightly tinted car window.

The traffic is rather heavy, I lowered the window and began a lively conversation with the boy.

“What’s your name, where do you study, how many siblings do you have, etc.”

He answered my questions cheerfully and finally asked if I wanted to buy some flowers.

So, in the end, the conversation all seemed to boil down to that: business!

I gave him a few coins, didn’t take the flowers since I don’t want the car’s interior to have any scent and I hand him a bottle of mineral water.

He ran off, overjoyed with the coins, some water and perhaps, a conversation no one could have ever bothered to have with him.

Similar episodes during my daily drives remind me of what Pope Francis said, “When you give alms, don’t simply drop the coins in the air into the person’s palm. Feel his palm, look at his face and offer him some conversation.”

The word ‘alms’ originates from the Greek word “eleēmosúnē” which is stems from the word “éleos” or mercy. Literally, almsgiving would mean a ‘giver of mercy’. And mercy is demonstrated by caring for the hungry, thirsty, naked, and more.

But I would like to consider, for the moment disregarding strict etymological sources, playing with the English word alms and the familiar Spanish word alma which means soul.

I believe that giving alms should mean ‘extending mercy’ by ‘giving one’s soul or self’ to the other. It is quite easy to extend a hand, some time or goods to someone in need. But to give one’s soul, that is, to see and surrender ourselves in the other whom we are helping is not a simple material act but a journey of conversion.

This is, as Pope Francis writes in his 2018 Lenten message, “a genuine style of life for each of us! (…) When we give alms, we share in God’s providential care for each of his children. If through me God helps someone today, will he not tomorrow provide for my own needs? For no one is more generous than God.”

Thus, almsgiving — giving up one’s self — is not the specialization of the saints and servants of the Church. It is a calling to every single faithful within the Church and society: parents who unceasingly serve their family, teachers who prepare their daily lesson plans, helpers and drivers who work unnoticed in their daily home routines, elevator staff, maintenance crew and establishment guards who silently labor to keep the small things in place and check.

Each of us, in our unique place in family and society, can and ought to give our daily and constant contribution of our alma. And like the unseen mite offered by the widow in the Temple’s treasury, the worthless coin of our life may fall without making the slightest noise. But its weight will transcend time and space, and fall into the eternal palms of our Father God.