Daily Reflections

October 31, 2011
ABOUT GENEROSITY

The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel make us reflect on the motives behind our generosity. What is generosity? It is the habit of giving freely without coercion. But there can be different motives behind our generosity.
We can be generous because we hope to get something back or we can be generous to be praised by others. But this is selfishness. We can be generous to feel superior. We can be generous because it is in our nature and we cannot help giving and sharing. We can be generous out of gratitude that God was so generous to us — and this is the best kind of generosity. After all, God gave first. He gave Himself unselfishly for us in and through His Son Jesus Christ. The mystery of the Incarnation is the ultimate demonstration of generosity. God is the model of all generosity. Acts of giving help focus people’s hearts on the evidence of God’s grace and offer the world a new reason to praise Him. God gave first and because His gifts are boundless, eternal and beyond all earthly measure, God will give forever.
Generosity is sharing of one’s self and love to influence the world around us for the better. Already a small gift, the sharing of something little can have a tremendous effect on the people around us. Gautama Buddha rightly expressed this when he said, “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” And Mohammed wrote, “A person’s true wealth is the good he or she does in the world.”
On the last day of this month, let us join St. Ignatius of Loyola and pray his prayer for generosity:
“Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve You as You deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do Your will. Amen.”Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

Reflection Question:
Am I a generous person? What are my motives for being generous?

Lord, all that I am and all that I have, I owe it all to You. Help me to share what I am and what I have because these all belong to You.

St. Bega, pray for us.