First Reading: (2 Corinthians 9:6–10)
Responsorial Psalm: (Psalm 112)
Response:
It goes well for the man who deals generously and lends.
Gospel: (John 12:24–26)
Reflection
Gospel reading today was brief but starting in the first reading, writing to the Corinthians in his second letter, St. Paul exhorts us to charity:
Let each one give as much as he has decided on his own initiative, not reluctantly or under compulsion, but freely, because God loves cheerful givers.
And as we give, so shall we receive from God and from others.
A person reaps only what they sow. The measure you give is the measure you receive. I am always delighted when the Gospel talks about farming or animals. It tightens my understanding beyond words for I know more about farming perhaps than anything in my life.
That reading is encouraging us to have open hands and hearts.
For God will never let us lack because God is able to enrich us so that we always have enough and our resources will always overflow.
I am a living prove of that. Try it, too. That is the magic of Christ-like charity.
The more open-handed you are, the more God blesses you. Not necessarily the material things.
But the moment we think we can be stingy and keep for ourselves without being ready to share, we might never have enough.
Sometimes we fear to give or share, thinking we lose.
Therefore, the temptation is to be stingy or to be selfish.
No. That is the logic of charity: the more open-handed we are, the more we receive. But the more stingy we are, the lesser we get with God.
It is in giving that we receive.
It is in losing that we gain.
That is the irony.
This is the reason Jesus says in the Gospel passage that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains but a single grain.
But when it loses itself, when it gives all of itself, it multiplies and bears much more.
How can we apply this text to ourselves fully?
It is by asking: What is our attitude towards charity?
First, as the Church, are we still concerned about the poor?
Or do we rather exploit the poor and feed fat on them?
And when we talk about the poor, it is not only those who do not have, but even the marginalized.
Do we speak for them and do we defend them?
The Church sometimes may be silent while the poor are oppressed and the oppressors keep oppressing them.
The Church is meant to be the voice of the voiceless, to speak out.
That is charity: to speak on behalf of the marginalized.
The Church also tries to reach out to the poor through organizations and associations like the Catholic Charity in the U.S.
We have St. Vincent de Paul societies in many churches, and in some of those churches we find boxes with the label, "St. Vincent the Poor-give to the poor."
How charitable are we?
How charitable are we to give, to see that our brothers and sisters who are less privileged also have something?
As individuals, do we do charity to the needy around us?
Even to our families, are we charitable?
How about charity to God
Do we give to God?
Are we charitable to God with our time, with our energy, with our talents, with our resources, and, oh yes, even with our lives?
Can we die for God?
And can we die for the Church as Lawrence did?
We should also be charitable with our words.
Some of us, we don't have kind words for anybody.
Anytime we are to say something about some other person, they are negative, words that can hurt or kill. If we can say anything kind to people keeping silent is the best way to go.
By all means, we should be charitable with our words.
And talking about giving, everyone can give something including those of us who believe we have nothing to give.
As believers, when we pray, we can pray for people we wish we could give something to them but can't afford to. Please pray for people, sincerely.
What is my attitude towards charity? How open-handed am I?
Even in our little ways, yes, there is something we too can give.
Charity is about being ready to share even from our little.
And today being the feast day of St. Lawrence, may he intercede for us, that we too may be charitable to God and to others.
Amen.
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