Giving out of One's Poverty

In today’s Gospel, Luke 21: 1-4, Jesus draws attention to the widow who gave of her poverty,  putting two coins in the treasury in contrast to the wealthy who gave of their surplus.   Am I willing to give out of my poverty  without counting the cost?   How difficult that can be!  I find myself coming up with excuses:  What if I don’t have enough, I ask myself. What if I run short this month?  I really can’t afford it this month?”  And the list goes on and on and on. I can raise these same excuses when God invites me to be generous with my time, my talent, my giftedness, my love and compassion, my forgiveness and understanding. 

  

When invitations to give of myself  to a person in need or to share of  my possessions, though they be meager, come my way,  what if I prayed for the grace to put on the mind of Christ  and  to respond with the heart of God?  What if I reminded  myself that, throughout the day,  God will be inviting me to grow in self-giving, in giving of myself to others out of love, of being generous as God is generous, of showing compassion as God is compassionate, of being the kind of person the widow was in today’s Gospel?  What a difference that would make in transforming this world into a place where love triumphs both in my being and in the being of others.

Self-giving: A Prelude to Giving to Others

Today’s Gospel, Luke 6: 36-38, begins with Jesus saying to us: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  How merciful am I toward myself is the measure, I believe, of how merciful I am toward others.  How honest I am toward myself is how honest I am toward others. And the way I care for myself is the way I care for others.

As I reflect on my life, I notice how difficult it is for me to give myself some slack.  I am very stingy with myself when the little girl within wants to play, for instance. I say to her: “I’m too busy; I got too much to do.”  And this is on a day off!  Then busily, many times, I frit from one thing to another and don’t accomplish that which I thought I wanted to do when my inner child suggested that I take some time for fun. What I failed to remember is Jesus’ reminder, in this same Gospel passage, that, in giving, gifts will be given to me.  That generosity, I believe, begins with self. If I am not generous toward myself, it is unlikely that I will be generous with others. It is that simple and that complex.  Lessons learned begin at home.

What about your experience?