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January 25

Generosity

Christ has given his very life for the world. We are invited to receive the benefits that flow from this generous self-giving. But we are also invited to give our all for God’s purposes.

Christ’s great act of self-giving love invites us to give of ourselves as well. As we have generously received, so we also give. We do this in gratitude and love.

It is one thing to do this in the joy and enthusiasm of a new found faith. It is another to continue to live a life of generosity in the long journey of discipleship. Since this road is long and may be hard, fervor can easily weaken or dissipate altogether. And in the latter stages of life, we can so easily close in on ourselves.

But it is one thing to give and quite another thing to become free from avarice.

The ancient monk John Cassian notes that there are people “who have given away worldly wealth in gold or silver or lands [who] are afterwards agitated about a knife, a pencil, a pin, or a pen.”25 We can so easily major on minors.

Giving, therefore, must come from a place of inner freedom and not from compulsion or mere necessity. Thus giving needs to come from a place of grace. This can only be the fruit of the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. And this freedom is living in joy in the goodness of God rather than in the quest to secure our own future and our own security.

Giving is more than an act of the hand. It is a grace that springs from the heart.

Thought

Giving becomes a grace when it blesses the receiver and transforms the giver.