Charity in Silence

When Pope Pius was a young bishop in Mantua, he heard that a rich merchant had become poor and was about to go bankrupt. The merchant was in great trouble and needed help.

The bishop felt sorry for him and decided to help. He gave a large amount of money to a close friend and asked him to give it to the merchant secretly, without telling who the money came from.

The friend was surprised because the merchant had often insulted and spoken badly about the bishop in secret. He asked the bishop why he wanted to help someone who treated him so badly.

The bishop replied that this was exactly why his help should be even more secret. He believed that true charity should be done quietly, without pride or revenge.

Lessons:

1. You should help others to reduce their pain, not to boost your sense of superiority.

2. Help with dignity: make sure the person you help does not feel ashamed or burdened. Secret help is often more meaningful than open charity.

3. Consider yourself lucky that you get the opportunity to do good deeds by sharing your resources.

Source: I read this story in the book Snack for the Soul by J. P. Vaswani. All credit for the story goes to him. I have given my original interpretation in the form of lessons.