Be most generous without feeling entitled

THIS is what Christ is telling us and is doing so with his own example. Being God, he emptied himself to become man and to bear all the sins of men by dying on the cross, all for the purpose of saving mankind. (cfr. Phil 2,7) 

 He reiterated this point when he lamented about the domineering sense of entitlement of some of the leading Jews of his time while praising the poor widow who put all that she had into the temple treasury. (cfr. Mk 12,38-44) 

 While it’s true that we obviously are entitled to our rights, we should not feel entitled to privileges and favors that are above our rights and needs. If they come and we cannot avoid them, then let’s be thankful. 

 But let’s be reminded that these privileges, favors and blessings are meant for us to strengthen our desire to serve and not to be served. But as it is, we should try to avoid them, since they tend only to spoil and corrupt us. 

 We have to be most wary when we happen to enjoy some privileged positions or status in life because we tend to think that we deserve more entitlements. And not only would we expect them. We may even demand them for us. 

 We should banish this temptation as soon as it makes its appearance felt in us. On the contrary, we should follow the example of Christ who, in spite of who he was, just wanted to serve. 

 Remember what Christ said once: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Mt 6,1) 

 We need to acquire the mentality of a servant which is actually the mentality of Christ himself. Let us readjust our human standards to conform to what is actually proper to us as taught and lived by Christ. We usually look down on the status of servants. This has to change! We should be convinced that by becoming a servant we would be making ourselves like Christ. Let’s say NO to entitlements. 

 In the meantime, let’s learn the precious lesson Christ wants to impart to us in that episode where he praised the poor widow who gave two small coins to the temple treasury more than the rich ones who put a lot of money. 

 The lesson to learn is that generosity is not a matter of how much we give but rather of total detachment from the things of this world so that our heart can only be for God. We therefore have to be wary of our strong, if often subtle, attachment to the things of this world such that our heart would at best be a divided heart, which is actually an impossibility. 

 That’s because in our relation with God, there is no middle ground. It is either we are with him completely or not at all. We have to overcome that strong tendency to think that we can be partly with God and partly with our own selves, even if we can say that we are giving God 99% of what we have and keep only 1% for us. 

 We have to give all. In fact, with God we have to give our very own selves, and not only things, not only some possessions. Remember Christ telling us that we have to love God with “all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22,37)

The dishonest steward and the world’s unavoidable evils

ONCE again the parable of the dishonest steward (cfr. Lk 16,1-8) presents to us some intriguing questions and issues that we have to try to resolve and reconcile with our Christian faith and morals. 

 We can ask if God, who must have been personified in some way by the rich man in the parable, is just ok with some cheating, with being dishonest, with being calculating as leverage for one’s personal gain and interest. 

 Remember that the conclusion of the parable was that the master praised his dishonest steward for his ‘cleverness,’ saying that the “people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light.” (Lk 16,8) 

 I suppose what the parable is trying to tell and teach us is that Christ is being realistic with our situation in this world. We try to put everything in our life right, clean and moral. But no matter what we do, we would always be hounded by evil and by all kinds of dirt, physical, moral, spiritual. 

 This parable seems to tell us that we should just learn how to live with this condition and do our best to come out ok in the eyes of God in the end. What may be considered as aggravating circumstance in human justice may be regarded as a saving grace in God’s eyes. 

 We may have to handle dirt in our life and deal with situations that are fraught with moral irregularities, but as long as we do not compromise what is essential, which is love that comes from God as shown by Christ who became like sin without committing sin (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21), then things will just turn out ok. 

 We have to learn to distinguish between what is a tolerable cooperation in evil and an intolerable one. With the former, we should feel the obligation to do whatever we can to clean up what is evil in a given situation, system or structure. 

 So, we have to be ready to properly live this unavoidable condition of our life here where evil and its increasingly powerful structures are sprouting around like mushrooms. 

 Some of these immoral structures are already large and well-entrenched in our culture and systems like the old acacia trees that we still see around. They really pose as a tremendous challenge to anyone who wishes to be consistent with his Christian life. 

 For sure, the attitude to take toward this unavoidable reality is not to escape from this muddled world. We would be like fish out of water that way. Yes, we might be able to flee from the mud, but then we would die instantly if we are taken out of our proper place. 

 Neither should our attitude be of just indiscriminately accepting what comes or what is around. We are supposed to be the lord and master of this world in the name of God whose best creature and children we are. And so, we just have to do some discerning, some purifying and some struggling. It cannot be helped. 

 Christ himself said, “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.” (Mt 10,16) It’s quite a combination to attain. But if we have faith in God and follow what is taught us, we can make it. Truth is we have been provided with more than enough to be able to reach this ideal.

The lost sheep and the lost coin

THE parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (cfr. Lk 15,1-10) remind us that instead of distancing ourselves from those who are in error or even who are in some conflict with ourselves, or with whom we have serious differences, we should rather give them some special attention, concern and care. That is what Christ wants to impart in us through these parables, and we should just try our best to learn and live it with God’s grace. 

 Like Christ, we should have the same love for everybody, irrespective of how they are with us. They can even be our enemies. Thus, Christ himself told us very clearly that we should love our enemies. (cfr. 5,44) This is the kind of love that is the very essence of God and that is also meant for us. It has a universal scope even if it never compromises the truth. It can prefer to suffer and die for the truth. 

 On our part, we just have to learn to adapt our mind and heart to this kind of love that God through Christ in the Holy Spirit is actually sharing with us. We have to develop a certain compassion for the lost sheep and know how, like Christ, we can fraternize with those in error spiritually and morally, or at least with those wrapped up with all sorts of weaknesses. 

 If we are truly Christian, we should have a true and abiding compassion toward everyone, especially the poor and the needy. But we have to understand that compassion should have a universal coverage. It should not be limited to the sentimental aspects of things, nor to relieving the economic and material needs of people alone. It lets us enter and get involved in the life drama of the others. 

 It should cover the whole range of human needs in their proper order of importance, foremost of which is our need for God. We have to learn to distinguish between the pressing and precious needs of man, and to cope with the tension that sometimes arises in our effort to put these two kinds of needs together. 

 The material needs of man may be pressing and urgent, but these should not detract us from giving priority attention to the precious spiritual needs of man to relate himself with God and others in true love, irrespective of whether he is rich or poor, a prince or a pauper. 

 It’s true that looking after the pressing material needs of people can already be an overwhelming task. This should not be attended to on an ad hoc basis only, giving dole-outs and temporary relief. This has to be given stable and effective solutions, like creating jobs, enabling poor people to find work through education and continuing training, especially considering that the world economy is rapidly evolving, etc. 

 But over and above this concern is the care of the more important necessity of man—his spiritual life, his relation with God that should be developed according to God’s love and concern for everyone, and thus, his relation with everybody else. Christ himself gave more importance to forgiving sins than to curing the paralytic. (cfr Mk 2,1-12) 

 We have to learn how to fraternize with everyone, especially replicating Christ’s attitude towards sinners, who actually are all of us—of course, in varying degrees. We have to give special attention to the lost sheep and to the lost coin. We have to open all possible avenues to be in touch with all sinners.