to those who cannot help themselves. (The “God-helps-those-who-helpthemselves” rule, found in various forms in the Muslim Koran and in almost all proverbial wisdom, and having some truth—e.g., don’t be lazy, one lesson of the Parable of the Talents, 25:14–30—is nevertheless at bottom a rather graceless truth and is not often helpful to troubled people.) God helps people who need help simply because they need help, not because they meet spiritual conditions. In the present Fourth Beatitude we begin