Thomas Aquinas, on 1Tim 5:16

“If any of the faithful have widows, let him minister to them, and let not the church be charged: that there may be sufficient for them that are widows indeed.”

“Then when he says, if any of the faithful, he shows that the widows should be supported by private persons: first, he sets forth the doctrine; second, the reason, at do not let the Church be charged. He says, therefore, that one who is truly a widow should put her trust in God; but if she has brothers or sisters or parents, let her be supported by them. That is why he says, if any of the faithful have widows, let him minister to them, because this is a work of mercy; and this should be done lest the Church be charged. And this was necessary, because in those days the Church was without possessions; but today the Church has possessions that can be devoted to the support of widows: we worked night and day, lest we should be chargeable to any of you (1 Thess 3:8).”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.