Almsgiving

One of the three pillars of Lent, but what does it mean for us? Almsgiving by definition is -

donating money or goods to the poor and performing other acts of charity. - USCCB

For someone who is already giving all they can monetarily and making regular donations to the poor throughout the year, almsgiving might be best honored by performing other acts of charity. But finding time to volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen might mean that this is only done a few times during lent. However, let's take a look at 'other acts' from a different perspective.

Yesterday, was my late day for coming into work and I hadn't really gotten to spend any time with my family on Ash Wednesday. So midmorning my husband and I are in the living room having coffee and he begins to tell me a story from the day before. He describes driving home after noon Mass, traveling up a busy street, heavily trafficked headed to the highway. He notices a man walking his bike down the side of the road and as he is watching he sees something fall behind the man. He is too far over and there was too much traffic to signal to him. So he looked as he passed and saw it was a coiled bike lock that had dropped. As he continued up the street he considered the man and judged him not to be a cyclist but rather someone who was dependent on his bicycle as his mode of transportation, So he decides to turn around and see if he can find the man. He described how difficult the traffic was and the lack of uturn opportunities until he gets all the way up past the highway then doubling back only to have to turn around again to fetch the bike lock that is still laying on the ground.

Bike lock in hand, he turns his attention to finding the gentleman but the time it took him to get back to the place where the lock was, the man was long gone. There were a few shopping centers so he drove through looking to see if that is where he went. Then he drove around some side streets but the man was nowhere to be seen. By now he says it's been a good 15 minutes so he could be anywhere and he was on the verge of giving up when he offered a prayer and asked God to help him find the man so he could return his bike lock. Out of ideas on where to find the man he decided he'd drive home on surface streets instead of the highway and on the slightly less busy street that spans the valley he spotted him, again headed in the opposite direction. So he turned around again and was heading back when he gets stuck behind several cars driving slowly behind a mail truck. He is fearful he will lose the man again, then he finally manages to pass the mail truck and sees it was driving slow because of the man on the bike. So he pulls a couple of blocks ahead, pulls his car over and begins to rush back to the man who is now a bit closer, frantically waving and gesticulating to get the man to stop. Picture a 6' tall man with grey hair in a suit (with a big black cross on the forehead) jumping up and down wildly excited. Would you be eager to stop and make this strange person's acquaintance? Well the man could hardly pass him and my husband is waving the bike lock frantically trying to explain he had dropped it. The man looked and sure enough he didn't have his and his face filled with relief. They did not speak the same language so the man did not fully understand the story but was grateful to have his lock. My husband got back in his car and offered a quick thank you to God for letting him help that man.

I share this story not to brag about my husband's good deed, but rather because I know I would not have seen the man at all, let alone notice he dropped something. Had I noticed, I would not have thought to go back and find him. I would not have invested the effort and energy, this is to my shame but it is true. It cost my husband 20 minutes total and it might have been a bigger deal for that man than we realize. The example I hope to follow here is, to pay attention to the people around me, notice them and answer the tug when I think I might be helpful, and not waive it away because it's not my problem. This is almsgiving at its simplest. It is doable for all of us and if all of us did little things like this, we could really change the world.