Law which he did
not profess, had to be counselled to him. Or he may have been
speaking in reference to a case in which almsgiving was not a matter
of precept.

Reply Obj. 2: The temporal goods which God grants us, are ours as to
the ownership, but as to the use of them, they belong not to us alone
but also to such others as we are able to succor out of what we have
over and above our needs. Hence Basil says [*Hom. super Luc. xii,
18]: "If you acknowledge them," viz. your temporal goods, "as coming
from God, is He unjust because He apportions them unequally? Why are
you rich while another is poor, unless it be that you may have the
merit of a good stewardship, and he the reward of patience? It is the
hungry man's bread that you withhold, the naked man's cloak that you
have stored away, the shoe of the barefoot that you have left to rot,
the money of the needy that you have buried underground: and so you
injure as many as you might help." Ambrose expresses himself in the
same way.

Reply Obj. 3: There is a time when we sin mortally if we omit to give
alms; on the part of the recipient when we see that his need is
evident and urgent, and that he is not likely to be succored
otherwise--on the part of the giver, when he has superfluous goods,
which he does not need for the time being, as far as he can judge
with probability. Nor need he consider every case that may possibly
occur in the future, for this would be to think about the morrow,
which Our Lord forbade us to do (Matt. 6:34), but he should judge
what is superfluous and what necessary, according as things probably
and generally occur.

Reply Obj. 4: All succor given to our neighbor is reduced to the
precept about honoring our parents. For thus does the Apostle
interpret it (1 Tim. 4:8) where he says: "Dutifulness* [Douay:
'Godliness'] is profitable to all things, having promise of the life
that now is, and of that which is to come," and he says this because
the precept about honoring our parents contains the promise, "that
thou mayest be longlived upon the land" (Ex. 20:12): and dutifulness
comprises all kinds of almsgiving. [*_Pietas,_ whence our English
word "Piety." Cf. also inf. Q. 101, A. 2.]
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SIXTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 32, Art. 6]

Whether One Ought to Give Alms Out of What One Needs?

Objection 1: It would seem that one ought not to give alms out of
what one needs. For the order of charity should be observed not only
as regards