When you give to the poor:
1) do not give them the oldest clothes you have; give them something very nice--if you would not wear it, why should they?; remember they need good shoes, warm clothes;
2) if you give them food, do not give them left overs or tons of cheap Ramen noodles--give them what you would eat for supper;
3) if you give, do not keep reminding them how fortunate they are to have you as a benefactor--humility goes both ways, and the poor have already been humbled by circumstances; you have not been so humiliated;
4) if you give, do not assume you will get anything back from them or others--your reward is in heaven;
5) when you have known them for awhile, invite them to your house for dinner--the poor are marginalized and cast out of polite society;
6) when you have known them for awhile, drive them to Church and Adoration--they would love to go but have no bus money and most likely do not live in the parishes you do; do not push, but invite;
7) never judge--some very poor people have illustrious parentage and heritage, but have fallen on bad times or have been very ill and suffered poverty from illness-this could happen to anyone; many people in England are extremely judgmental of the poor; this is a great evil; do not criticize them if they smell bad; they may not have the means to wash themselves daily or wash their clothes;
8) offer to help them with prescription bills or doctor's bills--socialism does not cover everything, of course;
9) offer to help find them work; most of the poor want to work but cannot find positions and as the poor, they have no contacts, no networking;
10) if they have children, you have a double duty to care for the children in many ways;
11) remember, many passed by Mary, Joseph and Jesus on the way to Egypt and legend has it that only the future good thief helped them;
12) if you think you have never met a poor person, look again; you are not seeing properly;
13) do not merely given to organizations, get involved with people; that is real love;
If you see a poor man or woman or child, you are looking at the Crucified One. Would you help Him?
