Love to Give and Give to Love

Generously Loving. Lovingly Generous.

38 In the course of his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, 39 seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”[a] 41 He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. 44 For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”-Mark12:38-44

Is it wrong, then, to be greeted by people, to be given seats of honor, and places of honor at banquets? No, not at all. Remember, Jesus Himself was like a rockstar during His ministry. For me, Jesus is inviting us all to keep in mind why we are greeted by people, given seats of honor and places of honor. Why do they think highly of us? Because of the power and position that we have. And what is power and position inviting us to do? To serve the people. Yes, we complement the honor and respect given to us by serving the people with love. Elected government officials must serve the people who put them in office. Celebrities must serve the fans who 'follow' them by being a good example to their fans and constantly remembering that their stardom is nothing without a strong fan base. Teachers who are loved by students and parents must complement this love by teaching the students well. From the lowliest to the highest in authority, all of us must bear in mind to be thankful to God and to return always the honor given us through service.

Image courtesy: God's Not Dead

End your story right

Mercy and forgiveness should be a limitless act.

21 Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 [a]Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 23 That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 24 [b]When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. 25 Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. 26 [c]At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ 27 Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. 28 When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount.[d] He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. 31 Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. 32 His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 33 Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ 34 Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.[e] 35 [f]So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”-Matthew18:21-35

Jesus' parable said it right. How absurd, isn't it, that when we have wronged others and ask for their forgiveness, we expect to be forgiven - right away if possible. When we have wronged God by committing a sin, we want to be forgiven. However, if there is a reversal of roles, and we are the ones wronged and being asked that we forgive others, we find it very difficult. Sometimes, we do not forgive at all.

Last year I watched a TV series about a wronged wife. Husband enters an affair. Wife finds out about it. Wife wants a temporary separation. Husband does not want the separation, begs for another chance and is willing to end his affair with his mistress. Now wife's dilemma is, should she forgive her husband and give him another chance, or should she push through with the separation (or divorce to some)? So many women said, "Give him another chance" while others said, "Let him go. There are better men out there anyway." I want to say to those women in the last category, "Mercy and forgiveness should be a limitless act. If God can forgive and give many chances again and again, we too can forgive and give many chances again and again. If God can forgive somebody with sincere and humble heart, who are we not to forgive somebody who asks for our forgiveness with a sincere and humble heart?" Once, I begged for mercy, forgiveness and another chance. But they did not give it to me. So now I know how it is like to beg and not be forgiven. Let us then be generous if we want others to be generous to us as well.

Image courtesy: artist 

Love is the True Measure

Jesus shares our joy when we give.

Jesus[a] looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.[b] And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”-Luke21:1-4

I have encountered many poor people in my life. If I ask them about their daily survival, they would say that what money they have, they save it for their needs. Their needs involve food, clothing, water, needs of the children in school and so forth. Now that's a responsible poor! However, there are those who are in deep poverty but still spend whatever they have to gamble or buy alcoholic drinks, drugs and cigarettes. The result, they become poorer and more hungry still.

I consider the widow a responsible poor. Yes, she saved what little she has for a higher need. But this higher need happens to be giving to the temple treasury. Fascinating isn't it? A widow and poor at that. It is expected of her to use what little she has for her survival - including food, clothing, oil and other household needs. But she believes that the crucible and core of her survival is God, through God and in God alone.

Normally, any person would think of his/her survival first and foremost. But the poor widow anchored her survival to God. Simply fascinating! Our life depends on survival and ensuring that every thing and every need is there within reach. We tend to forget that there is a God who ensures our survival and needs to live, except the poor widow.

Is God saying, then, that we should imitate the poor widow? Yes and No. If we can happily and readily give all that we have to do the Church and not regret it afterwards, then our sacrifice is one that will truly touch the heart of God and the hearts of men and women. But, if we will only regret, cry and be angry if we give everything to the Church, then, much better not to do so. God appreciates a generous giver. But the generous giver must be happy in what s/he is giving to others.

It is not the amount that matters to God. Rather, it is the amount of love that we give that truly matters. As what St. Paul said to his first letter to the Corinthians chapter 13 verse 3, "... If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing." Love is the true measure of charity.

Image by: Zeferino da Costa (The Widow's Mite), Hunger Games (Katniss Everdeen), artist

What fool!

Death is inevitable. We cannot bring to heaven the many material things we stored up for ourselves.

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”-Luke12:13-21

As I reflected, I saw two characters worth pondering. The man who asked Jesus for a favor regarding their inheritance, and the man who planned so many things only to die that very night.

Jesus is full of wisdom. No one is at par with Him when it comes to understanding the wisdom and knowledge of the Father.

Regarding the first man, perhaps if anybody heard his request about inheritance, any person would have said, "Sure." or "I'll try." But Jesus probes the mind and searches the heart. His answer was, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?... Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” It is most likely that Jesus knew that there is no extreme need at all, because if there is one, Jesus would have helped. Instead, He warned everybody about greed - possessing material things more than what is needed. Yes, we all have the tendency to be greedy and to "keep up with the Joneses."

Despite having a nice house, we still want another house. Despite having a nice car, we still want another car. Despite having a nice party already, we plan another grand party to "keep up with the Joneses." The more we accumulate, the more we buy unimportant things just to be at par or to keep up with our neighbors, and worse, we lose the true meaning of life. It is nice to own some things. It is a good sign that we work hard so that we can provide better for our family and to give good gifts to our loved ones "just like those of the Joneses." But it is another thing to be driven by greed and attachment to material things. It is another thing if we are slaves of material and worldly goods and selfishness.

Notice that the second man has so much focus on himself alone. There are many "I" "Me" "Myself" or "Mine" in his thoughts and plans. There is more to life than resting, eating, drinking and being merry. Actually, God does not say these acts are wrong at all. At the same time, Jesus does not encourage workaholism as well.

We are created after the image and likeness of God. Since God is love, then we are created to love as well. Our very existence should revolve around loving God and our neighbor. But it doesn't mean we just sit around, resting, drinking, eating and merrying with them only, but to work also since we are stewards of God's creation. And while we do these things, we bear in mind that life is transitory. If we work to have a better life and save something in the bank, we should work also for the "life ahead" and "deposit" something in our account in "heaven's treasury." What work and act should we do? If we know how to love God and our neighbor, this love will tell us what to do.

Photo by: Jim Janknegt (Rich Fool); Allan Sanders (Keeping up with the Joneses); unknown artist