GIVING GENEROUSLY

June 16, Wednesday

Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Both Jesus and Paul in Year I speak to us today on sincere and generous sharing. To Paul, the generous, spontaneous givers are ministers of God’s goodness; by giving thanks to God for what they themselves have received they are further enriching themselves by sharing. Giving – also praying and doing penance – must be done for the sake of God, says Jesus, not to congratulate oneself or to be admired by others. It would be good for us, for our Catholic organizations and institutions of the Church to remember that we have no monopoly on charity, that God is present in every act of love and sharing, also when not bearing the Catholic label. True love is discreet, like God’s.

 

First Reading: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds,
    giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
    never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

 

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.

 “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘play-actors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.

“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

 “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
you let your Holy Spirit fill us spontaneously
with every good gift.
You want us to be to everyone
ministers of your generosity.
Help us to express our gratitude to you
and to reveal your goodness
by sharing what we are and have
with joy and in all sincerity,
as Jesus did, your Son,
who lives with you for ever.  Amen.

 

Reflection

Attention seeking

We read this gospel passage every year on Ash Wednesday – at the beginning of the Lent.
In the days of Jesus, in any village in Palestine, there were people responsible for collecting and distributing aid for the poor, orphans, widows, and the wayfarers. This charitable institution was indeed a very good practice. But for many well to do people, it often turned out to be an opportunity to show off.

During the liturgical celebration of the Sabbath, there was the habit of publicly praising those who had made a generous offer. They were invited to stand up in the assembly, and were applauded up as examples to all. And they were accompanied to the place of honour, and were accommodated alongside the rabbis.

Jesus has described those people who let themselves be put on stage as “hypocrites”. For a moment of vanity, these people wasted the precious opportunity to do good without being noticed.

This attitude of attention seeking is very much visible even in our own days. Rather than “almsgiving,” today we speak of solidarity, of sharing, of attention to the needs of others. How often do we see our acts of charity are transformed into a photo-op in the social media?

It is a lie to speak of goods of this world as mine, yours, his and ours because, “The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord (Ps 24:1). We are only diners invited to the banquet of the Lord. This is why Jesus recommended his disciples to do justice in secret: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (vv. 3-4).

The Church Fathers had understood this truth well. St. Ambrose had said to the rich: “Remember that you do not give what is yours to the poor; you only give back what is due to them.”

There are two forms of prayer: Community prayer and prayer in private. Jesus himself attended the prayer gatherings in the Synagogues and in the temple. But he gave great example of finding time for prayer in private. This prayer is not to convince God to do our will and to fulfil our dreams, but to be introduced in his thought, to internalize his designs and to receive from him the necessary graces to carry out the task assigned to us in the building of his kingdom.

In Jesus’ time, it was believed that fasting was highly meritorious: it served to amend sins, to move the Lord to pity, to avert his punishments, to ward off calamities. Fasting is not to let anyone know that you are fasting but true fasting always flows into gestures of love to the brother and sister. Try this: The leftover food should not be put back in the cupboard and kept for the next day; it must immediately be distributed to the hungry!

 

Video available on Youtube: Attention seeking