\u201cCharity begins at home.\u201d Does anyone know the origin of this fatuous phrase? I hear it quoted among Catholics as if it is sacred Scripture, and when it is quoted it is most often as a response to my suggestion that a person ought to donate more to the church or to the poor. \u201cAfter all Father,\u201d they say with that smug expression like they\u2019ve just thought of something terribly clever, \u201cCharity does begin at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think, if the phrase means anything at all it means that \u201clove\u201d begins at home, and if you can\u2019t be charitable or loving to the people you live with, it\u2019s not worth pretending to love others.<\/p>\n
Instead the people who don\u2019t want to give to the poor or to the church misinterpret the word \u2018charity\u2019 and think it means \u2018charitable giving to the poor\u2019 and end up denying the needs of the poor and the church by with holding their loot, and they do so with a sense of self righteousness.<\/p>\n
So next time you hear someone trot out the phrase \u201cCharity begins at home.\u201d Take a moment to gently ask what they mean by it. They\u2019re probably using it as a get out to justify their lack of concern for the poor.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cCharity begins at home.\u201d Does anyone know the origin of this fatuous phrase? I hear it quoted among Catholics as if it is sacred Scripture, and when it is quoted it is most often as a response to my suggestion that a person ought to donate more to the church or to the poor. \u201cAfter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n