Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, who was a 19th century poet
and Jesuit priest, once received a letter from his friend and fellow poet,
Robert Bridges, who would not only go on to become the poet Laurette of the
United Kingdom but was also an agnostic.
Bridges asked Hopkins what he, as an agnostic, should do to believe in
God. To be able to make the leap of faith necessary for a life of faith.
Bridges was probably expecting some deep theological argument, after all they
had met while studying at Oxford, not as good as Harvard, but impressive
nonetheless. Or perhaps he expected Hopkins would tell him to read the Bible,
or at least portions of scripture, or maybe even that he might allow Hopkins to
tell him his own conversion experience. But instead, Hopkins replied to this
letter with one of his own that contained only two words: Give alms.
Now alms isn’t a word we hear much anymore, except maybe in movie adaptations of Charles Dickens’ works and hearing someone saying “alms for the poor,” but that’s what it was. Alms were money or food given to the poor or needy. A giving of charity. And so what I think Hopkins was saying to Bridges is that if you want to encounter God, you have to do something that takes you outside of yourself. You have to be willing to give something of yourself in order to be able to help another person. And once you begin to do that, once you start to give, or learn to give, then you will understand the nature of faith and indeed will learn the very nature of God, and then belief becomes much easier.
