The new edition of the Rosary Confraternity newsletter has an excerpt from Pope Benedicts Lenten message on the importance of almsgiving which he identifies as ". . .a specific way to assist those in need and, and at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free us from attachment to worldly good."
The Pope praises almsgiving as one of the traditional tasks that ". . . accompany the faithful in . . . process of interior renewal." He also distinguished almsgiving from "mere philanthropy," calling it "a concrete expression of charity, a theological virtue that demands inner conversion to love of God and neighbor, in imitation of Jesus Christ."
As Lent draws to a close we must remember that the interior renewal we have been working toward throughout Lent is not something that ends on Easter to be forgotten until Lent next year. Almsgiving is a duty that we must continue to perform each time an occasion presents itself.
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