By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 11th November, 2018
1 Kgs 17: 10-16; Heb 9: 24-28; Mk 12: 38-44
The widow at the gates of Sidon, the widow in the Temple of Jerusalem and God who gave God’s only son as a sacrifice are given to us as models of giving, in today’s Word. Giving is one act that can be done out of many a kind of motivation. Not all giving are of the same kind or type or degree! Analysing the models presented to us, we are called to reflect on our type of giving… reflect along and find out at the depth of your heart, what type is your giving!
Giving to Gain:
There is a lot of giving that is going on today. There are people or agencies or corporates who give even tons of money, but they are particular about what they stand to gain. They calculate the gain and then proceed to give: it could be a tax exemption, or a favour in return, or an end to achieve, or a popularity to earn! But apparently it is seen to be an act of generosity, an act of great magnanimity! But the hook is attached to the indirect returns – that’s a gain.
However big and enormous this giving is, it would not be truly giving; it is in the final analysis, a getting, a begging, a receiving, a business, a gain! At times when we give, however small it is, from our time or energy or effort, if we are particular about our calculations of gain, our plots of selfishness, then our giving has no value in itself, its value is merely what we have gained.
Giving to Get:
This is the safest form of giving, where one is sure what one gives is not merely thrown in the air but it will return. I do a favour to someone expecting a favour in return; I be nice to someone expecting the person to be nice to me in return; I claim to love someone with the expectation that i will be loved in return! This is so direct – giving, inorder to get!
Though it is not about gain or profit or expecting a glorious image of oneself, this is a plain give and take, a barter mentality. There is no giving actually involved in here! It is an investment technique and when the plan fails people cry, shout, curse, claim, fight, sue, and make all noises possible! Forget giving, this is simply investing.
Giving to Give:
This is truly divine, truly Christ-ian! I give, because I find fulfillment in giving. I don’t stand any chance of getting it back or I don’t think anyone else will ever know, but I give, I give whole heartedly, of my time, my effort, my energy, my concern, my resources, because it is in giving that I find the true meaning of my life. During the last week Jesus instructed us, when you invite people to feasts, invite the poor, the maimed, those on the streets…reason, simple: they cannot invite you in return!
God gave God’s only Son because God loved the world to that extent; it was an expression of God’s love, not an expectation of the same in return! Jesus gave his life, his body and his blood, and what did he expect in return? This is true GIVING… giving after God’s heart, giving after Christ’s mind.
Just become aware of some of the phrases we hear (or sometimes say):
- I am doing all this for him or for her or for them, what am I going to get in return?
- Oh, I did all these to you, and is this how you respond?
- Is it safe to give this, or do this, for this particular person, will it come back?
- I did this, with so much of effort and money, and they don’t even thank me in public!
These kinds of statements are candid indicatives of ‘giving’ that is not after the heart of our beloved Lord and Saviour. Because with the Lord we are called to give without measure. Freely freely you have received, freely freely give! Here the giving is not to gain, not to get it back; it is just to give, and nothing more!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him