GIVING OUT OF ONE’S POVERTY

June 5,  Saturday

 

NINETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

When Tobias thanks the angel Raphael and wants to remunerate him, the angel reveals that all the good things that happened to both the old and the young Tobias and their family came from God. They should thank God himself.

Jesus, who lived in the hands of the Father, points out to his disciples how much a poor widow was living in the hands of God, so much so, that she put in the treasury for the worship in the temple coins she even needed for her own living. What a trust and generosity!

 

First Reading : TOB 12:1, 5-15,20

After the singing and dancing and the eating and drinking had come to an end, Tobit called Toby aside and told him, “The gentleman who went with you, Azariah, let’s thank him, settle up accounts, and send him on his way.”

“I think that amount is just about right,” agreed the father.

Then Toby approached his traveling companion. “Half of what we brought back, would that be fair?”

Azariah thought it was time for a private chat with both father and son.    He began with a prayer and a list of his own dos and don’ts.

“Bless God and confess him in front of all the living! You owe your prosperity to him. Bless and sing his name at every opportunity. don’t be ashamed of his name. don’t hesitate to proclaim him.”

And then he got to the heart of the matter, if in a roundabout way.   “The mystery surrounding a king one should be slow to dispel. But to reveal the works of God and confess the words of God—they’re very good things to do indeed. do them, and evil will never have its way with you.

“Prayer with fasting is good, and so is generosity with justice. Better a little justice than a bundle of injustice. Giving is better than saving.

“Charitable giving frees us from death and purges every sin. The per- son who makes a habit of giving money to the poor will end up with more goods than he can handle.

“The person who befriends sin makes an enemy of his very own soul.

“Now all this is preamble to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. As I just said, the mystery shrouding a king one should be slow to dispel, but the works of God should be shouted from the rooftops— that’s the honorable thing to do.

“And  now for the backstory. When you prayed, Tobit, Sarah was praying   at the same time. I memorized everything you both said, brought it to God, and recited it in his presence. Also, whenever you properly buried unbur- ied Israelites, despite the danger to you, I brought that to God’s immediate attention.

“You remember, don’t you, the time just before I showed up when you bounced up from the dinner table to bury a person whose body was found in the streets? That was my doing. God wanted to see if you were the real thing.

“Again, at God’s behest, I intruded twice more in your lives, when I found a cure for you, Tobit, and a wife for you, Toby.

“You know me by the name of Azariah, but my real name is Raphael. I’m one of the seven holy angels who have multiple duties in the presence  of God.”

Both men were absolutely dumbfounded. The best they could do in response was fall on their face in front of the archangel. They were afraid of what was going to happen next. Raphael spoke again.

“No need to be afraid. Peace to you. Praise to God forevermore. The time I’ve spent with you—that was at God’s behest, not mine. That’s why you should bless him all the days of your lives.

“Recall, if you will, that whenever I was with you, I ate and drank as much as the next fellow, or at least I gave you that impression. But I had   no need of either. It was an apparition.

“Bless the Lord on earth by confessing the God of Heaven. Watch me ascend to him and return to my own true home. As for our experiences together, write them all down.”

And then he was gone.

 

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

He continued teaching. “Watch out for the religion scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preening in the radiance of public flattery, basking in prominent positions, sitting at the head table at every church function. And all the time they are exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they get. But they’ll pay for it in the end.”

Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. One poor widow came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.”

 

Prayer

God with the heart of a father and a mother,
you care for the poor,
give justice to the oppressed
and food for the hungry.
In your Son Jesus, you have shown us
not to give only from our surplus but ourselves.
Confound our calculations
and change our self-interest
into generous sharing,
that our way of giving may be like yours,
by not counting the cost.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

A grain of wheat

Is it possible to give away everything we have? I am afraid to talk about it because I am not so sure how much can I give! The widow in the Gospel today “has given everything she had to live on,” Jesus tells. It takes a lot of courage and indeed, requires total trust in the divine providence, that God will take care of you.

But people of this kind are not uncommon, though! Stories of great saints of the past are there before us – telling of their heroic acts of charity. Do not have to go that far into the history books. Look around us and see the generous acts of charity that have kept hundreds of homeless poor in our city warm and with meals to eat. Covid-19 Pandemic has taught us the life lessons to care for our neighbours, to give without measure and to love without conditions.

And furthermore, Jesus reminds us that all of this can and should be done in silence. Without fuss, without posting it on social media and without your left hand knowing what the right hand is doing. An act of charity is not a photo opportunity – this is a principle that should be taught to the present generation. Because, God already knows what we do and what we don’t do.

Happiness is not in receiving but in giving. Perhaps, not that easy to accept. There is a famous poem by title: The Little Grain of Gold by Rabindranath Tagore. The poem is about a beggar who once happen to meet the king. Here is the poem:

I was asking, from door to door, on the road to the village, when your golden chariot appeared in the distance, like a magnificent dream. And I wondered, wondering, who was that King of kings. My hopes soared to heaven, and I thought my bad days were over. And I was waiting for spontaneous alms, treasures spilled by the dust. The coach stop by my side. You looked at me and came down smiling. I felt that the happiness of life had come to an end. And suddenly you extended your right hand to me saying: “Can you give me something?” Ah, what a funny thing about your royalty! Ask a beggar! And I was confused and didn’t know what to do. Then I slowly took a grain of wheat out of my bag and gave it to you. But what a surprise was mine when I emptied my sack on the ground in the afternoon, I found a grain of gold in the misery of the heap.
Jesus gave all that he had and was – his whole self, to bring others life and happiness. Like him, let us not count the cost of our gifts.

 

Video available on Youtube: A grain of wheat