Dear parishioners, visitors & friends,
Generosity is not determined by the amount of wealth someone has, but by the attitude of someone’s heart. People with a generous heart never see anyone in need without doing something to help whereas people bereft of a generous heart are hardly ever generous even when they are wealthy. The woman from the Sidonian town of Zarephath, and the woman in the gospel showed acts of extraordinary generosity not because they had plenty of wealth but because of their generous hearts. They were both widows. As widows, they lived in a patriarchal society which left them destitute and poor. With the death of their respective husbands, they lived in a precarious situation. When Elijah first approached the Sidonian widow and begged her for some food, she was very polite to point out the extremity of the situation in which she and her son had found themselves with the impeding famine. However, she didn’t need much persuasion, before she shared the little food she had with Elijah. Elijah had assured her that “the jar of meal and jug of oil will not fail until the famine is over”. She showed faith and trust in the promise made to her by Elijah. Faith is the channel through which the generosity and power of God flow into our hearts. According to an old saying, “we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” When the poor widow shared the little food they had with Elijah, God greatly rewarded her and her son. In this life, there is nothing we do for God that will ever go unrewarded (1 Cor 15:58). The woman in the gospel also acted with generosity. While the rich were giving out of their surpluses, the poor widow gave all she had to live on. The contrast between her and the rich was obvious. The rich gave out of their abundance but she gave all she had to live on. Her faith and trust in the God of providence spurred and motivated her. It takes faith for us to realise that everything we have is nothing but pure gifts. “What do you have that you did not receive, “Saint Paul writes (1 Cor 4:7). While this might sound like a rhetorical question, Saint Paul stirs up in us a sense of stewardship and right attitude towards everything about our life. Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father (James 1:17). Therefore, when we put money into the collection baskets or use our gifts for the good of the Parish, we are simply giving back to the God from whom we have received the gifts we have. And when we give until it hurts, we have not only shown an act of great generosity, but also an act of trust and gratitude to God. We only give from our need if we trust that God will provide for us. The Missionaries of Charity, the Religious Order founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta depend on the goodwill and generosity of many good men and women to survive. I am not suggesting that married couples with kids live like the Missionaries of Charity, but we can all live a life that is underpinned by deep trust in God. It takes great faith and trust for anyone to be so generous to a point were it hurts. Meanwhile it is not the size of the gift that matters but the cost and the sacrifice involved. As a parish, the day we realise that “givers never lack” or that our wealth and everything we own are nothing but pure gifts from God, we will not only begin to have a more “Silent Collection” with more notes and less coins, but almost everyone will be happy to get involved in the affairs of the parish.
God bless you all.
Fr. John Ikechukwu Echewodo
Parish Priest
St Mary's Parish is committed to the introduction of the Alpha programme.
